Abstract

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Vegetables are essential protective food for good health and are also potential reservoir of microbial contaminants. Intake of raw vegetables contaminated with detrimental microorganisms may result in food poisoning. Thus this study assessed the microbial loads of leafy and salad vegetables from five different markets in Lagos State. Macerated samples of the vegetables were analyzed for microbial load using pour plate method. Bacteria were putatively identified on the basis of their phenotypic and biochemical characteristics and fungal isolates were identified by lactophenol-in cotton blue staining. The total viable counts recorded in the vegetables samples ranged from 2.2x104-14.8 x 104cfu/g, coliform counts show 1.0 x104–5.6 x 104cfu/g, while Salmonella-Shigella count ranged from0.2 x 104–8.5 x 104cfu/g, and fungal count ranged from 0.6 x 104 – 7.5 x104cfu/g. A total of 145 bacterial and 26fungal isolates were identified from this study. Among the bacterial isolates, Staphylococcus spp(26.21%) were the most predominant bacteria associated with leafy and vegetable salad in the five markets assessed. This was followed by Micrococcus spp (13.8%), Bacillus spp (12.42%), Lactobacillus spp. (8.28%), Pseudomonas spp (3.45%) and E. coli (3.45%) recorded highest percentage of occurrence for the coliform. Among the fungal isolates, highest percentage of occurrence was recorded for Saccharomyces spp (33.33%) followed by Candida spp (28.56%), while other bacterial and fungal species were low in their percentage of occurrence. This study showed that vegetables sold in open market are potential source of pathogenic microorganisms and may present health risk to humans when consumed, thus the need for consistent hygienic practices

Keywords: Vegetables, Microbial load, Open markets, Pathogenic microorganism