Microbiological Quality of Juice Beverages Available in Dar es Salaam and Resistance Profiles of Microbial Contaminants

Abstract

Eight most widely available juice beverages each constituted by four extemporaneous and four industrially made juices were bought from different localities in Dar es Salaam. Extemporaneous juices were randomly collected using sterile containers. Each sample was microbiologically analyzed using conventional methods. The identified microbes were subjected to antimicrobial resistance assays against 15 commonly used antibiotics using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Reference strains of Escherichia coli (ATCC25922), Candida albicans (ATCC90028) and Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923) served as control microorganisms. Four microbial contaminants were isolated, namely Streptococcus spp, Escherichia coli, Staphylcoccus aureus, and Klebsiella spp. High content of contamination (4.1 × 10⁵ cfu/ml of bacteria and 6.4 × 10⁶ cfu/ml of fungi) were found in all extemporaneous juices. About 5.4 × 10⁴ cfu/ml of bacteria and 6.8 × 10⁴ cfu/ml of fungi were isolated from industrially produced juices. Microbial contaminants in juices exceeded acceptable limits by 100-fold. The Streptococcus spp and Escherichia coli isolates were resistant to ampicillin, amoxicillin, ceftriaxone and doxycycline.

Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance, microbial contamination, extemporaneously and industrially made juices

East and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol. 14 (2011) 81-88