ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF BACTERIA FOUND IN COOKED BEAN SOUP SOLD WITHIN JIMETA

1.1 Background of the Study Food spoilage occurs during storage and transportation, whether it is cereals, tubers, fruits, or vegetables. Contamination may occur during harvesting, handling, transportation, and/or storage if proper hygiene standards are not met (Gustavsson et al., 2021). Food spoilage can be caused by microorganisms in two ways. First, through the active metabolism of food components by living cells (Goswami et al., 2023). Second, in the absence of live cells, spoilage is caused by their intracellular and extracellular enzymes, which react with the food component and change its functional properties, resulting in spoilage (Feng and Wang, 2022). Most bacteria are unicellular; the cells may be spherical (coccu) rod – shaped (bacillus), spiral (spirillum), comma – shaped (vibrio) or corkscrew-shaped (spierocheate). Generally, they range in size between 0.5 and 5um. (Elizabeth and Martin, 2020). Food is any substance that people or animal eat or drink or that plants absorb to maintain life and growth. Food is any substance consumed for nutritional support for the body; it is usually of plant or animal origin. (Ezeronye, 2017). Food consists of chemical compounds which heterophilic living thing consumes in order to carry out metabolic processed. They are also substances which when introduced to the digestive system under normal circumstances contribute to growth, repair and production of energy. (Ezeronye, 2017). Foods are classified into six essential nutrients known as protein, carbohydrate, vitamin mineral, fat and oil, water. One of a group of organic compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen (sulphur and phosphorus may also be present). The protein molecule is a complex structure made up of one or more chains of amino acid, which are linked by peptide bonds. Proteins are essential constituents of the body; they form the structural material of muscles, tissues, organs, etc. and are equally important as regulators of function, as enzymes and hormones, proteins are synthesized in the body from their constituent amino acids, which are obtained from the digestion of protein in the diet (Elizabeth and Martin, 2020). Food borne diseases are globally important, as they result in considerable morbidity, mortality, and economic costs. Many different sources like bacteria, viruses, parasites, chemicals, and poisons, may be transmitted to humans by contaminated food. Outbreaks and sporadic cases of food borne disease are regular occurrences in all countries of the world (Kirk et al., 2019). However, the statistical data of food borne illness is increased due to the unrecognized or unreported outbreaks particularly in the developing countries (Han et al., 2014). There has been a continuous increase in several food borne diseases caused by bacterial pathogens such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, E.coli, Listeria, S.auerus, Klebsiella and Pseudomonas. These pathogens come into contact with foods during harvest or slaughtering, processing, storage and packaging. Environmental challenges have caused food-borne bacterial pathogens to evolve and the susceptibility of human population to infections (Chibeu, 2021). Generally, food borne diseases are associated with acute, mild and self-limiting gastroenteritis with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea as a consequence of consumption of microbial contaminated food and number of chronic sequences may result from food borne