9 / 13
Page 50
N o v e m b e r 1 2 - 1 3 , 2 0 1 8 | R o m e , I t a l y
Joint Event on
OF EXCELLENCE
IN INTERNATIONAL
MEETINGS
alliedacademies.comYEARS
Surgery and Anesthesia 2018 & Euro Gastro Congress 2018
Case Reports in Surgery and Invasive Procedures
|
Volume 2
&
GASTROENTEROLOGY
3
rd
International Conference on
SURGERY AND ANESTHESIA
International Conference on
Case Rep Surg Invasive Proced 2018, Volume 2
ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL HIGH RISK PATHOGENS
FROM BLENDERS USED IN GRINDING SOME FOOD STUFFS IN A LOCAL
COMMUNITY MARKET IN RIVERS STATE: A PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN
Azuonwu Obioma, Ndah, Marcus Azubuike
Azuonwu
and
Testimonies Chikanka
Rivers State University, Nigeria
B
lenders used in cutting and grinding food substances are often times not cleaned up after use. This leads to the proliferation of
microorganisms, as these food substances contain nutrients that encourage microbial growth. Samples were obtained random-
ly in the market by scrapping blenders that had been used to blend Okazi (
Gnetum africanum
), Ogbono (
Irvingia gabonensis
), Egusi
(
Citrullus lanatus
) and Crayfish (
Procambrous clarkia
) in a major local market in Elele Community in Ikwerre Local Government Area
of Rivers State. The samples collected were subjected to standard bacteriological analysis for the isolation and identification of
pathogens in food substances. It is strongly believed that these food substances are highly nutritious and as such, can permit the
growth of different microorganisms, thus providing environments conducive enough for their growth and replication in a fast and
sporadic manner. However, results from this study shows that samples from the blender used in blending Ogbono had the highest
bacterial colony forming units (1.67x10
6
) and the least bacterial colony forming units was from that of the crayfish (2.72x10
4
).
However, out of the ten bacterial isolates identified,
Staphylococcus aureus
had the highest frequency of 24% while
Xanthomonas
spp
and
Pseudomonas spp
had the least frequency of 4% each respectively. The presence of these pathogenic bacteria poses a
huge threat of toxins(s) production and associated diseases, and thus should provoke a massive public health concern among
stakeholders. Nonetheless, cleaning of blenders before and after use should therefore be encouraged among the market local food
stuff traders, even as the importance of health education and awareness on personal hygiene and food safety should be strongly
underpinned in our local communities, so as to reduce the increasing trend of possible outbreak of gastro-enteritis epidemic out-
come of unimaginable proportion among the weak and most vulnerable subjects in the hinter lands.