Abstract:
Fresh fruit juices are essential components of the human diet. However,
during processing contamination from raw materials, equipment or food
handlers could be easily transferred to the final product of fruit juices
resulting in food borne illness. The objectives of the study were to assess the
bacterial contamination of the locally prepared unpasteurized fruit juices as
well as hygienic conditions of preparation sites.
The study was conducted in the period April - October 2013.
Sociodemorphic data of workers were collected using structured
questionnaire. Samples of Mango, Strawberry, Orange, Banana, Tabaldy,
Aradeeb and Cocktail juices were collected in aseptic manner. The samples
were kept in ice boxes, and then transported to the Research Laboratory.
Each sample was appropriately diluted and inoculated on Nutrient agar to
determine the viable count. Isolated bacteria were identified by standard
bacteriological methods, including colonial morphology, Grams stain and
biochemical tests. Of the 20 workers interviewed, 9 (45%) were educated up
to high school, non of them trained as fruit juice maker and all of them using
only tap water for primary fruits washing. The fruits were obtained from an
open market. The stock of fruits was stored in shelves in all cafeterias except
V
two which used a refrigerator. Study on bacterial load revealed that out of 52
fresh fruit juice samples, the viable bacterial count was ranged from 19×10³
to 24×104 CFU/ml. Identified bacteria were as follows: 26 (32%)
Enterobacter spp., 24 (30.1%) Klebsiella spp., 11 (13.7%) Staphylococcus
spp., 10 (12.5%) E. coli, 6 (7.5%) Proteus spp. and 3 (3.7%) Salmonella
spp.
The study concluded that hygienic practice level was very low thus level of
bacterial contamination was very high. Further studies to cover large area in
Khartoum State are required to validate the results of this study.
