MICROBIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS AND ESCHERICHIA COLI CONTAMINATION IN DAIRY PRODUCTS IN KAZAURE METROPOLIS

ABSTRACT Dairy products are the kinds of foods that are obtained primarily from or contain milk of mammals such as cattle, goats, sheep etc. Dairy products include a variety of foods such as yoghurt, Nono and many more. They are consumed throughout the world excluding some parts of central Africa and some countries in East and Southeast Asia. Yoghurt and Nono has become so highly valued in humans' diet because of their nutritional values and their culinary possibilities. The microbiological quality of Nono and dairy products is influenced by the initial flora of raw Nono. The results of the percentage of occurrence of the Staphylococcus Aureus and Escherichia coli isolated from the sample is =frequency of occurrence divided by the total number of isolate multiples by 100 = 70.79%. The result obtained for the percentage of Escherichia coli sample B (Nono) which was obtained from Garabasa in Kazaure Metropolis had the highest contamination of bacteria (Escherichia coli) with a value of 3.6*10``5 this was the due to poor hygienic practices by the handlers of these products which was lead to the development of resistant strain of Staphylococcus areas and Echerichia coli. The results obtained in this study suggest that the fermented (Nono)and pasteurized milk (Yoghurt) available to consumers in Kazaure Metropolis were contaminated with food borne pathogens such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureas which is associated with diarrhea and gastroenteritis respectively.