MICROBIAL EXAMINATIONOF DIFFERENT LOCAL SOFT DRINKS SOLD IN ENUGU METROPOLIS

ABSTRACT Samples of verycommon Nigeriannon-alcoholic beverage zobo, kwakwa, tigernut, the Sandard Plate Counts (SPC),to metropolis and analyzed using determine there are spective bacteriological quality. The mean total viable count, coliform, staphylococci, Salmonella/Shigella counts (cfu/ml) for fresh beverage at are shown in Table 1.The mean total.4x104 cfu/ml, Kunu. The mean viable counts of Zobo 3.5x104,8.tigernut. The mean staphylococci counts in the samples range from 1.6x104 to 2.9x104 cfu/ml in soya milk and kwakwa, while the mean Salmonella/Shigella counts range from 1.5x104 to 2.5x104cfu/ml in zobo and kunu. The percentage occurrence of bacteria as recorded in this study are 72%(18) S. aureus, 60%(15) E. coli,56%(14) Bacillus spp, 48%(12) Streptococcus spp, 36%(9) Klebsiella spp and 28%(7) Salmonella spp (Table2). The percentage occurrence of isolated bacteria from zobo, tigernut, and kwakwa is 43.3% while kunu and soya milk had 60.0%, giving the total bacterial occurrence rate of 50.0%. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in the occurrence of bacteria from samples obtained from various locations. The high bacterial load of most of the samples can be attributed to the poor hygienic practices of the handlers and possible contamination from the utensils and water that were used for processing of the beverage. The presence of these bacteria could be a matter of serious concern as these organism are involve in some health implication causing various diseases.