Analysis of Thermophilic and Halophilic Bacteria in Traditonally Processed Locust Beans Sold in Ekiti and Kwara State, Nigeria.

Abstract

Locust beans is one of the most essential condiment and ingredient of any soup in Nigeria. Many household and eateries make use of this condiment on daily basis, considering its taste and addition to every soup, coupled with its health benefit. Being a natural ingredient, some medical practitioner had successfully convince their patient to abstain from many other artificial soup ingredient and stick to locust beans for their food. The Process and preservation of this locust beans involves cooking, drying and salting, which ordinarily should have killed every bacterial in the process, though, this is subject to further verification. Heating and salting is one of the oldest food preservation methods, which is usually regarded as a technique to control microbial activity. It is important to be able to estimate the risk of undesirable microorganism growth, halophilic pathogens such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus at low temperature and thermophilic bacteria Bacillus sp. that survive the pasteurization procedure, thereby called for this studies on isolation of thermophilic bacterial and halophilic bacteria from locally fermented food. The objective of this study is to identify the possible thermophiles and halophiles from the traditionally processed locust beans sample collected from Ekiti and Kwara State. Considering the similarities and peculiarities in the processing and preservation period and method of locust beans in the two different states, it becomes necessary to examine the possible influence of this peculiarities on the presence of the two bacterial in question (thermophilic and halophilic), which makes it a comparative analysis. The study assessed the bacteria isolates in locally fermented locust beans in Ekiti and Kwara State, through descriptive research of the experimental design. Locust beans with salt and without salt were collected and the identification of the bacterial isolates were done by standard microbiological methods. Result revealed that the bacterial isolated includes: Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus mundtii, Acinetobacter iwofii and Acetobacter aceti. The identified isolated bacterial were very similar as regard the two different samples from the two states (Kwara and Ekiti). Where Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus mundtii have the highest frequency of occurrence 31.8% Acinetobacter iwofii have 22.7% and Acetobacter aceti have the lowest occurrence of 13.6 %. Also, studies revealed that a wide range of thermophilic and halophilic organisms are found in food. The study concluded that locally processed locust beans though preserved by heat and salt still contains some microbes that are deleterious to human health as well as the environment. It was therefore recommended base on the findings, that the locust beans be better preserved by freezing. In this wise, thermophiles that cannot survive in a temperature below 200C will die while the presence of halophiles which is added by salt as one of the most common preservation method will be prevented. Regular factory and market inspection should be encouraged by regulators such as environmental health officers, to ensure good hygiene in processing the locust bean.