Abstract
Ready-to-eat (RTE) food sold to school going children at school premises can not only provide essential nutrient and energy but also a route for foodborne diseases (FBD). However, there is a paucity of data on microbiological assessment of RTE food sold in primary schools in Douala. The aims of this study was to investigate the microbiological quality of food sold in primary schools and to evaluated the food safety knowledge and practice of vendors to promote a safer school-based food for a better health and well-being of our children. Socio-demographic characteristics and the hygienic practices of 60 RTE food vendors were collected using structured questionnaire. A total of 60 food samples from three different food items (beans, spaghetti and meat) were analyzed for the presence of bacterial and fungal pathogens. Twenty-five grams of each food sample was transferred in to 225 ml of buffered peptone water and homogenized. The homogenates were serially dilute and a volume of 0.1 ml dilution was spread on solid media and incubated at 35-37°C for 24 hours and 5 days. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was done for isolated species using Muller Hinton agar and data was entered in excel and exported to SPSS version 20.0. For analysis. The overall prevalence of bacterial pathogens was 23.1% (26/60) and the total mean enterobacteriaceae count (MEC) was 8.203333x10<sup>4</sup> CFU/ml in which the value ranged from 3.4 x10<sup>4</sup>–2.06 x 10<sup>5</sup> CFU/ml. The total mean fungal count (MFC) was 1.0341x10<sup>5</sup> CFU/g which varied from 0 –2.8x10<sup>5</sup> CFU/ml. Of the total of 60 samples examined, 93.3% (56/60) were found positive for S. aureus of which 15% (09/60) of isolates were contaminated. Citrobacter freundii was isolated in 23.4% (14/60) of RTE food. The greatest number of S. aureus was found in beans and the lowest number in spaghetti. These findings indicated that, the ready-to-eat food sold to primary school children in Douala metropolis represent an important potential health risk to school going children. There is a need for Public Health authority to establish guidelines and standards in order to safeguard the wellbeing of the school going children.
Highlights
Billions of people are at risk of foodborne diseases (FBD) with an estimated 582 million cases, resulting to 420,000 deaths annually
The global burden of foodborne disease was 33 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) and the highest estimated burden was observed in Africa [1]
The survey was carried out to determine the microbiological quality of RTE sold in 20 primary schools in the metropolis of Douala, in Littoral Region, Cameroon
Summary
Billions of people are at risk of FBD with an estimated 582 million cases, resulting to 420,000 deaths annually. The global burden of foodborne disease was 33 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) and the highest estimated burden was observed in Africa [1]. These statistics represent only the tip of iceberg because only a small fraction of those that got ill from infected food seek medical care. In most primary schools in tropical Africa, RTE are produced unsupervised and without compliance to any food safety guidelines if they exist. These foods are sold in unhygienic surroundings with houseflies, fruit flies and air dust serving as potential sources of contamination
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