Microbiological Quality of Street-vended Ready-to-Eat Ekpainkpoto (Plantain Pudding) in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Maintaining good microbiological quality of ready-to-eat foods is an essential element in ensuring the protection of the public from food-borne diseases that can be transmitted via contamination of these foods. This study was thus focused on assessing the microbiological quality of plantain pudding (ekpainkpoto) sold in markets in Bayelsa State. The study adopted a cross-sectional design involving 50 samples of plantain pudding obtained from different markets in Bayelsa state. The samples were collected in sterile polyethylene bags and sent for microbiological analysis within 24 hours of collection. Seven bacterial isolates were identified after analysis which included Bacillus sp. (20.3%), Staphylococcus sp. (17.5%), Lactobacillus sp. (17.5%), Proteus sp. (15.3%), Streptococcus sp. (13.6%), Micrococcus sp. (10.2%), and Escherichia coli (7.8%). A total of five fungal isolates were detected and isolated as follows Candida sp. (17.0%), Penicillium sp. (25.0%), Aspergillus sp. (29.0%), Fusarium sp. (29.0%) and Rhizopus sp. (17.0%). Total viable counts of bacterial and fungal isolates (cfu/g) in the plantain pudding samples revealed that Escherichia coli (bacterial) and Rhizopus sp. (fungal) respectively had the highest total viable counts of 8.0 x109 cfu/g apiece. The laboratory assessment of the ekpainkpoto samples revealed that they all had unacceptable levels of bacterial and fungal contamination. It was recommended that health education of the food vendors on safe food handling as well as regular monitoring action by regulatory bodies be ensured to improve the quality of ekpainkpoto and other ready-to-eat foods.