Microbial and Physicochemical Assessment of Road-Side Roasted Plantain Sold in Isoko North Local Government Area, Nigeria

Abstract

A research to investigate microbes present in roadside roasted plantain sold openly and freely in four different locations in Isoko North local government area, Delta State was analyzed. Samples were analyzed for bacteria and fungi using standard microbiological procedures. Five bacteria species and three fungi species were isolated from the samples; Corynebacterium species, Proteus mirabilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio species, Bacillus subtilis, Candida albicans, Mold species and Rhizopus oryzae respectively. The total bacteria heterotrophic plate count ranges from 7.6 ×103cfu/g to 47.6 ×104cfu/g. Proteus mirabilis has the highest heterotrophic plate count while Vibrio species has the least count. Proteus mirabilis has the highest percentage of occurrence of 43.50% while Corynebacterium species, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis has the least percentage occurrence of 25%. Statistical test reveals no significant difference (P>0.05) between bacteria count in heated samples A and cold samples B. Candida albicans and Mold species were the highest fungal isolate with the percentage occurrence of 43.75% while Rhizopus oryzae has the least percentage occurrence of 12.5%.  The total heterotrophic plate count for fungi isolates ranges from 2.5 × 103cfu/g to 12.6 × 104cfu/g. Statistical test reveals no significant difference (P>0.05) between fungi count in heated samples A and cold samples B due to heat resistance of these microorganisms. The physicochemical parameters analyzed were potassium, sodium, chloride, nitrate, and nitrite. Nitrite has a leading value than other chemical value. This can be due to post production or heat applied to samples. This study shows that road side roasted plantain contains a variety of microbes which may be dangerous or may have some health implications on consumers especially Proteus mirabilis which was obtained from this study.