Evaluation of Storage Control Points and Implicated Pathogens on Fast Moving Consumer Goods in Suburbs of South-western Nigeria

Food borne illness prevention system will depend on the extent of food safety control in place through food production, processing, distribution, keeping food at safe temperature and using safe water and raw materials. These stages of production are some of the important points determining food safety. This suggests the need to implement strict hygienic control measures along the food production chain during manufacturing, handling, storage and commercialization of foods. Ninety samples comprising of fifteen Milo (beverage), fifteen golden Morn (cereal), fifteen Maggi (seasoning), fifteen Lucozade boost (energy drink), fifteen Gala (Sausage) and fifteen Indomie (noodles) were collected from five stores of various shops in Lagos, Agbara and Sango Ogun State, Nigeria. Samples were processed and cultured using pour plate and streak plate techniques. Samples were cultured in five media consisting of four selective media and a basal media; Maconkey agar, Mannitol Salt agar, Salmonella Shigella agar, Eosin Methylene Blue agar and Nutrient agar. Differentiation and isolation of various isolates were based on gram-staining technique and biochemical reactions using OXOID MICROBAT TM identification kits. The in vitro assay revealed the presence of five bacteria species namely Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiellia oxytoca, Proteus mirabilis, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Morganella morganii. Prevalence of the various isolates in the culture were found to be 67.66%, 11.27%, 9.77%, 7.51% and 3.75% respectively. The highest colony count (140.6) was obtained from samples (Maggi) from Agbara while the lowest colony count (21.0) was obtained from (Milo) Sango. The mean bacteria load of the isolates was 1.0*107CFU/ml. It was concluded that the hygienic quality of the sampled fast moving consumer products in term of microbiological standards compare favourably with international benchmarks as defined by Codex Alimentarius Commission all the observed ranges of aerobic colony count fall well below the upper threshold of microbial levels for class A products.