Bacteriological Analysis of Ready to Eat Suya Meat Sold In Adolor and Oluku Area of Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

Traditionally processed meat product is usually done without observing strict hygiene conditions, which could cause foodborne illnesses.  As a consequence of microorganisms exceeding acceptable limits, hence, the objective of this paper was to determine the bacteriological analysis of ready-to-eat suya meat sold in Adolor and Oluku area of Benin City, Nigeria. Freshly roasted suya meat samples were obtained from two randomly chosen suya vendors and carefully wrapped in newspaper and sterile foil paper. Bacteriological analysis was performed using the pour plate method with nutrient agar and mannitol salt agar media. The isolates virulence factors and antibiotic susceptibility profile were analyzed. The results showed that samples obtained from Adolor wrapped with Newspaper had the highest bacterial counts of 4.00 x 10⁹ cfu/g. The highest Staphylococci count of 3.10 ± 0.7 x 10⁴ cfu/g was from a sample wrapped in Newspaper. The identified bacterial isolates were Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Streptococcus sp., Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Clostridium sp, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermis. Bacillus subtilis had the highest occurrence, while Staphylococcus epidermidis had the least occurrence, with cumulative values of 29.26 and 2.44 %, respectively. The isolates were resistant to most of the antibiotics tested, with an average antibiotic resistance index of above 50 %, which poses a serious public health concern. This study shows that packaging material and handlers are major sources of contamination in suya. It is recommended that suya be sold in more sterile packaging materials. The handlers should be trained on safe hygiene practices for handling suya