Ready-to-eat (RTE) food sold to school going children at school premises can not only provide essential nutrient and energy but also a route for foodborne diseases (FBD). However, there is a paucity of data on microbiological assessment of RTE food sold in primary schools in Douala. The aims of this study was to investigate the microbiological quality of food sold in primary schools and to evaluated the food safety knowledge and practice of vendors to promote a safer school-based food for a better health and well-being of our children. Socio-demographic characteristics and the hygienic practices of 60 RTE food vendors were collected using structured questionnaire. A total of 60 food samples from three different food items (beans, spaghetti and meat) were analyzed for the presence of bacterial and fungal pathogens. Twenty-five grams of each food sample was transferred in to 225 ml of buffered peptone water and homogenized. The homogenates were serially dilute and a volume of 0.1 ml dilution was spread on solid media and incubated at 35-37°C for 24 hours and 5 days. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was done for isolated species using Muller Hinton agar and data was entered in excel and exported to SPSS version 20.0. For analysis. The overall prevalence of bacterial pathogens was 23.1% (26/60) and the total mean enterobacteriaceae count (MEC) was 8.203333x104 CFU/ml in which the value ranged from 3.4 x104–2.06 x 105 CFU/ml. The total mean fungal count (MFC) was 1.0341x105 CFU/g which varied from 0 –2.8x105 CFU/ml. Of the total of 60 samples examined, 93.3% (56/60) were found positive for S. aureus of which 15% (09/60) of isolates were contaminated. Citrobacter freundii was isolated in 23.4% (14/60) of RTE food. The greatest number of S. aureus was found in beans and the lowest number in spaghetti. These findings indicated that, the ready-to-eat food sold to primary school children in Douala metropolis represent an important potential health risk to school going children. There is a need for Public Health authority to establish guidelines and standards in order to safeguard the wellbeing of the school going children.
| Published in | International Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology (Volume 6, Issue 2) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijfsb.20210602.13 |
| Page(s) | 36-44 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Ready-to-eat, Microbiological Assessment, Food Vendors, Antibiotic Susceptibility, Douala
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APA Style
Ariane Laure Wounang Ngueugang, Bonaventure Tientche, Smith Asaah, Henri Lucien Fouamno Kamga, Gertrude Bsadjo Tchamba. (2021). Microbiological Assessment of Ready-to-Eat Food Sold in Urban Primary Schools, Douala, Littoral Region, Cameroon. International Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology, 6(2), 36-44. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijfsb.20210602.13
ACS Style
Ariane Laure Wounang Ngueugang; Bonaventure Tientche; Smith Asaah; Henri Lucien Fouamno Kamga; Gertrude Bsadjo Tchamba. Microbiological Assessment of Ready-to-Eat Food Sold in Urban Primary Schools, Douala, Littoral Region, Cameroon. Int. J. Food Sci. Biotechnol. 2021, 6(2), 36-44. doi: 10.11648/j.ijfsb.20210602.13
AMA Style
Ariane Laure Wounang Ngueugang, Bonaventure Tientche, Smith Asaah, Henri Lucien Fouamno Kamga, Gertrude Bsadjo Tchamba. Microbiological Assessment of Ready-to-Eat Food Sold in Urban Primary Schools, Douala, Littoral Region, Cameroon. Int J Food Sci Biotechnol. 2021;6(2):36-44. doi: 10.11648/j.ijfsb.20210602.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ijfsb.20210602.13,
author = {Ariane Laure Wounang Ngueugang and Bonaventure Tientche and Smith Asaah and Henri Lucien Fouamno Kamga and Gertrude Bsadjo Tchamba},
title = {Microbiological Assessment of Ready-to-Eat Food Sold in Urban Primary Schools, Douala, Littoral Region, Cameroon},
journal = {International Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology},
volume = {6},
number = {2},
pages = {36-44},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijfsb.20210602.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijfsb.20210602.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijfsb.20210602.13},
abstract = {Ready-to-eat (RTE) food sold to school going children at school premises can not only provide essential nutrient and energy but also a route for foodborne diseases (FBD). However, there is a paucity of data on microbiological assessment of RTE food sold in primary schools in Douala. The aims of this study was to investigate the microbiological quality of food sold in primary schools and to evaluated the food safety knowledge and practice of vendors to promote a safer school-based food for a better health and well-being of our children. Socio-demographic characteristics and the hygienic practices of 60 RTE food vendors were collected using structured questionnaire. A total of 60 food samples from three different food items (beans, spaghetti and meat) were analyzed for the presence of bacterial and fungal pathogens. Twenty-five grams of each food sample was transferred in to 225 ml of buffered peptone water and homogenized. The homogenates were serially dilute and a volume of 0.1 ml dilution was spread on solid media and incubated at 35-37°C for 24 hours and 5 days. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was done for isolated species using Muller Hinton agar and data was entered in excel and exported to SPSS version 20.0. For analysis. The overall prevalence of bacterial pathogens was 23.1% (26/60) and the total mean enterobacteriaceae count (MEC) was 8.203333x104 CFU/ml in which the value ranged from 3.4 x104–2.06 x 105 CFU/ml. The total mean fungal count (MFC) was 1.0341x105 CFU/g which varied from 0 –2.8x105 CFU/ml. Of the total of 60 samples examined, 93.3% (56/60) were found positive for S. aureus of which 15% (09/60) of isolates were contaminated. Citrobacter freundii was isolated in 23.4% (14/60) of RTE food. The greatest number of S. aureus was found in beans and the lowest number in spaghetti. These findings indicated that, the ready-to-eat food sold to primary school children in Douala metropolis represent an important potential health risk to school going children. There is a need for Public Health authority to establish guidelines and standards in order to safeguard the wellbeing of the school going children.},
year = {2021}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Microbiological Assessment of Ready-to-Eat Food Sold in Urban Primary Schools, Douala, Littoral Region, Cameroon AU - Ariane Laure Wounang Ngueugang AU - Bonaventure Tientche AU - Smith Asaah AU - Henri Lucien Fouamno Kamga AU - Gertrude Bsadjo Tchamba Y1 - 2021/05/21 PY - 2021 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijfsb.20210602.13 DO - 10.11648/j.ijfsb.20210602.13 T2 - International Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology JF - International Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology JO - International Journal of Food Science and Biotechnology SP - 36 EP - 44 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2578-9643 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijfsb.20210602.13 AB - Ready-to-eat (RTE) food sold to school going children at school premises can not only provide essential nutrient and energy but also a route for foodborne diseases (FBD). However, there is a paucity of data on microbiological assessment of RTE food sold in primary schools in Douala. The aims of this study was to investigate the microbiological quality of food sold in primary schools and to evaluated the food safety knowledge and practice of vendors to promote a safer school-based food for a better health and well-being of our children. Socio-demographic characteristics and the hygienic practices of 60 RTE food vendors were collected using structured questionnaire. A total of 60 food samples from three different food items (beans, spaghetti and meat) were analyzed for the presence of bacterial and fungal pathogens. Twenty-five grams of each food sample was transferred in to 225 ml of buffered peptone water and homogenized. The homogenates were serially dilute and a volume of 0.1 ml dilution was spread on solid media and incubated at 35-37°C for 24 hours and 5 days. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was done for isolated species using Muller Hinton agar and data was entered in excel and exported to SPSS version 20.0. For analysis. The overall prevalence of bacterial pathogens was 23.1% (26/60) and the total mean enterobacteriaceae count (MEC) was 8.203333x104 CFU/ml in which the value ranged from 3.4 x104–2.06 x 105 CFU/ml. The total mean fungal count (MFC) was 1.0341x105 CFU/g which varied from 0 –2.8x105 CFU/ml. Of the total of 60 samples examined, 93.3% (56/60) were found positive for S. aureus of which 15% (09/60) of isolates were contaminated. Citrobacter freundii was isolated in 23.4% (14/60) of RTE food. The greatest number of S. aureus was found in beans and the lowest number in spaghetti. These findings indicated that, the ready-to-eat food sold to primary school children in Douala metropolis represent an important potential health risk to school going children. There is a need for Public Health authority to establish guidelines and standards in order to safeguard the wellbeing of the school going children. VL - 6 IS - 2 ER -
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