Bacteriological Analysis of Ready- to- serve Foods from a South Indian City: A Potential Source for Drug Resistant Pathogens

Year 2019, Volume: 09 Issue: 02, 83 - 89, 15.06.2019

Aruna Siddabathuni

https://doi.org/10.5799/jmid.574601

Cited By: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Objective: Street foods are well - known source for
bacteriological contamination with pathogens, responsible for health hazards
like food poisoning and diarrheal diseases. The present study was undertaken to
analyze the bacteriological quality of ready - to - serve foods vended in the
streets of Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Method: This
cross-sectional study over a 6-month period tested 142 diverse locally sold
street foods collected from different locations in Rajahmundry city. Isolates
obtained were identified to the species level and antibiotic susceptibility
patterns determined. Additional information regarding food preparation, storage
and handling practices observed by vendors was noted to correlate with the
extent of bacterial contamination.

Results:
Majority (71.12%) of the ready to eat foods were
contaminated with bacteria. Samosa (24%) and panipuri (22%) showed higher
bacterial contamination rates. Of the total 177 strains recovered from all
street foods, Escherichia coli (44%) and Staphylococcus aureus
(29%) were the major isolates. Staphylococcus aureus (23%) was
predominantly isolated from panipuri samples; Proteus species (29%) from masala chat; E. coli (31%) from
Samosa; Klebsiella pneumoniae (40%) from Samosa; Pseudomonas
aeruginosa (40%) from panipuri. Higher degrees of bacterial contamination
were associated with poor personnel hygiene of vendors and unsafe food handling
practices. Among the isolates, 33% of E. coli were extended spectrum
beta lactamase (ESBL) producers while 15% were Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus
aureus.

Conclusions: Corrective measures
like provision of health education to vendors and strict regulations for
implementation of good hygienic practices would improve street foods quality.  J
Microbiol Infect Dis 2019; 9(2):83-89.

Keywords

Bacterial contamination, Street foods, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa

References

• REFERENCES 1. Mensah P, Yeboah-Manu D, Owusu-Darko K, Ablordey A. Street foods in Accra, Ghana: how safe are they? Bull. WHO 2002; 80: 546-554. 2. Muinde AM, Kuria E. Hygienic and sanitary practices of vendors of street foods in Nairobi. Kenya. AJFAND 2005; 5: 1-13. 3. Barro N, Bello AR, Aly S, Ouattara CAT, Ilboudo AJ, Traoré AS. Hygienic status and assessment of dishwashing waters, utensils, hands, and pieces of money from street food processing sites in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). African Journal of Biotechnology 2006; 5 (11): 1107-1112. 4. Barro N, Bello AR, Itsiembou Y, et al. Street vended foods Improvement: Contamination Mechanism and Application of food safety objective strategy: Critical Review. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition 2007; 6(1):1-10. 5. Hanoshiro A, Morita M, Matte GR, Matte MH, Torres EAFS. Microbiological quality of selected foods from a restricted area of Sao Paulo City, Brazil. Food control 2004; 16: 439-444. 6. Ghosh M, Wahi S, Ganguli KM. Prevalence of enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus and Shigella spp. in some raw street vended Indian foods. Int J Environ Health Res 2007; 17(2): 151-156. 7. Bhaskar J, Usman M, Smitha S, Bhat GK. Bacteriological profile of street foods in Mangalore. Indian J Med Microbiol 2004; 22: 197. 8. Chumber SK, Kaushik K, Savy S. Bacteriological analysis of street foods in Pune, Indian J Public Health 2007; 51(2): 114-116. 9. Kabwama SN, Bulage L, Nsubuga F, et al. A large and persistent outbreak of typhoid fever caused by consuming contaminated water and street-vended beverages: Kampala, Uganda, January - June 2015. BMC Public Health 2017; 17(1):23. 10. Donado-Godoy P, Byrne BA, León M, et al. Prevalence, resistance patterns, and risk factors for antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from retail chicken meat in Colombia. J Food Prot 2015; 78(4):751-759. 11. Kalter HD1, Gilman RH, Moulton LH, Cullotta AR, Cabrera L, Velapatiño B. Risk factors for antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli carriage in young children in Peru: community-based cross-sectional prevalence study. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2010; 82(5):879-888. 12. Tambekar DH, Jaiswal VJ, Dhanorkar DV, Gulhane PB, Dudhane MN. Identification of microbiological hazards and safety of ready-to-eat food vended streets of Amravati City, India. Journal of Applied BioSciences 2008; 7: 195-201. 13. Hi-Media Manual for Microbiology and Cell Culture Laboratory Practices, 2016. Hi-media Laboratories, Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai, India, pp. 69. 14. Collee JG, Duguid IP, Fraser AG, Marmion BP, 1996. Enterobacteriaceae- Escherichia, Klebsiella, Proteus and other genera. Pp 137-149, In: Collee JG, Duguid JP, Froser AG, Marmion BP. (ed 5.), Practical Medical Microbiology. 15. George EA, Sankar S, Jesudasan MV, Sudandiradoss C, Nandagopal B. Incidence of extended spectrum beta lactamase producing Escherichia coli among Patients, Healthy individuals and in environment. Indian J Med Microbiol 2014; 32:172-4. 16. Gupta M, Singh N P, Kumar A, Kaur I R. Cefoxitin disk diffusion test - Better predictor of methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. Indian J Med Microbiol 2009; 27:379-380. 17. Estrada-Garcia T, Lopez-Sancedo C, Zamarripa- Ayala B, Thompson MR, Gutierrez L. Prevalence of Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. in street vended food of open markets and general hygienic and trading practices in Mexico City. Epidemiol Infect 2004; 132:1181-4. 18. Feglo and Sakyi.. Bacterial contamination of street vending food in Kumasi, Ghana. J Med Biomedical Scienc 2012;1(1): 1-8. 19. Oladipo IC, Adejumobi Od. Incidence of Antibiotic Resistance in Some Bacterial Pathogens from Street Vended Food in Ogbomoso, Nigeria. Pak Jf Nutrit 2010;9(11):1061-1068. 20. Temesgen Eromo, Haimanot Tassew and Gebre Kibru. Bacteriological Quality of Street Foods and Antimicrobial Resistance of Isolates in Hawassa, Ethiopia. Ethiop J Health Sci 2016; 26(9):533-40.