Microbial assessment of plastic bottles reused for packaging food products in Ghana

Abstract

Patronage of bottled water in Ghana has increased over the years as a more hygienic source of drinking water. This shift has however resulted in increased generation of waste bottles without any formal regulated management system to handle them sustainably. This has encouraged an informal system which involves the retrieval and reuse of the bottles by market women and small scale local beverage producers for the sale of products such as palm oil, mashed kenkey and hibiscus tea (“sobolo”). The reuse of these bottles for food products for public consumption without any regulated means of sanitizing them is an issue of public health concern. This study therefore sought to determine the level of microbial contamination in used bottles sold in the three major markets (Makola, Kaneshie and Madina) in the capital city of Ghana, Accra to ascertain their safety for use for food products. The results showed presence of Total Coliforms and Faecal Coliforms in more than 60.0% and 40.0% of the bottles respectively. The bottles washed by the vendors recorded higher presence of Total Coliforms (65.3%) and Faecal Coliforms (57.3%) than the unwashed ones (49.3%) and (36.0%) respectively. This could be attributed to poor water quality used in washing the bottles, cross contamination from washing equipment, poor washing technique/procedure and improper storage. The continued reuse of bottles for food products therefore presents a serious public health problem. There is the urgent need for strict enforcement of food safety regulations in Ghana to ensure that packaging materials used by food vendors as well as the mode of treating these materials meet standards that safeguard public health.