Assessment of Road Side Snacks’ Microbiological Qualities in Ilese-Ijebu Southwestern Nigeria: Implications on Packaging and Bioaerosol Monitoring

Abstract

The study was carried out to determine the microbiological contamination of three common snacks (Puff-Puff, Fried Cake Bean, and Fried Potato) consumed at Ilese-Ijebu Southwestern Nigeria and to determine the effect of the packaging materials on the contamination of the snacks. The study made used of two different types of packaging materials, the ones used by the food vendors and sterile plastic bags for control to transport the samples to the laboratory for analysis. The detections of pathogenic microorganisms were carried out using laboratory standard procedures for culturing by MacConkey Agar. The results of laboratory analyses showed that all the snacks samples collected with vendors packaging materials were contaminated with one or more of Escherichia coli , Klebsiella pneumonia , and Staphylococcus aureus , as result of old newspapers, students’ old notes used as the packaging materials coupled with poor food vendors’ hygiene practices. On the other hand, the snacks collected by the sterile plastic bags contained a few of the microorganisms that might be as results of contamination during food handling and bioaerosol presence around where the foods were prepared and served to customers. The study concluded that there is the need for educative and public awareness about the potential ingestion and health problems associated with consumption of the snacks with unclean packaging materials. The regulatory governmental agencies like NAFDAC should be actively involved in making sure food consumed by the people do not constitute health hazard and risks to the consumers.