A Survey on the Bacterial Load of Selected Fruits and Leafy Vegetables in Minna Metropolis of Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

A survey of bacterial load of selected fruits Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum); Garden egg (Solanum melongena) and Okra (Abelmuscus esculentus) and leafy vegetables Fluted pumpkins (Teliferia occidentalis), Bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) and Amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus), were collected from urban and rural farms and markets in Minna metropolis Niger State, Nigeria was examined. The result revealed the presence of pathogenic bacteria at all the locations. The rural farm and rural market shows a significance difference in the means bacterial count with Tomatoes having the highest bacterial load of 6.1 x 105cfu/g, followed by Garden egg 4.5 x 105 cfu/ml and Okra 3.6 x 105 cfu/ml however, the leafy vegetable had Bitter leaf 7.5 x 105cfu/ml and Amaranth had the lowest load of 3.4 x 105cfu/ml . The urban farm and urban market shows the bacteria loads of Okra having the highest count of 6.0 x 105 cfu/ml, and 4.5 x 105 followed by tomatoe 3.0 x 105cfu/ml and Garden egg 2.0 x 105 cfu/ml but the leafy bitter leaf had the highest bacteria load of 7.5 x 105 cfu/ml and Amaranth had the lowest of 3.4 x 105 cfu/ml. The comparison between the two location shows that the urban location had more bacteria load in the farm and market. The bacteria isolated and identified include species of Streptococcus faecalis, Streptococcus epidimidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli. The presence of these bacterial poses a health hazard to the consumers of these fruits and vegetable when they are consume raw.