BACTERIOLOGICAL QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF ICE CREAM SOLD IN SELECTED EATERIES WITHIN KADUNA METROPOLIS

Abstract

Ice cream is a frozen dairy product. Ice cream has an outstanding nutritional quality, but is also an excellent medium for bacteria growth. The study was conducted to evaluate the bacteriological quality of ice creams sold in selected eateries within Kaduna Metropolis. Fifteen (15) samples of ice cream were examined for proximate and bacteriological quality. The proximate analysis were determined for vanilla, strawberry and banana ice cream. Total viable count and coliform count were carried out on the ice cream samples using the pour plate technique, the samples were analysed by culturing on Nutrient, MacConkey and Salmonella-Shigella Agar media. Gram staining and biochemical test were carried to identify the organisms. The antibiogram of the selected antibiotics were evaluated against the organisms isolated. The proximate composition of moisture content was high in sample Y with 51.02%; Z sample had the highest ash content with 1.77%; sample Y and Z were both high in protein content with 7.41%. Sample X had a high crude fat content with 10.22%, sample Y was high in crude fibre content with 0.26% and sample Z was high in carbohydrate content with 30.28%. The total viable count ranged from 2.2x10⁵to 24.7x10⁵CFU/mL. The selected eatery from M site had the highest total viable count of bacteria while D had the lowest total viable count. The ice cream samples were contaminated with E. coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella and Shigella species. E. coli and Staphylococcus areus which were observed in all the samples obtained from the sampling sites. The S. aureus was resistant to Spectinomycin at 10µg concentration.  E. Coli and Klebsiella were more susceptible to the antibiotics used at different concentration. Pefloxacin, Gentamicin and Ciprofloxacin were observed to be the more potent antibiotics at 10µg concentration. The presence of the bacteria isolate lack proper hygienic conditions during preparation, preservation or serving of ice cream.  These results suggest that consumption of these ice creams might cause GI disturbances, stomach abscess, diarrhoea and other diseases. The presence of potential pathogens in the ice cream samples revealed the significance of implementation of quality control measures in productive, storage and marketing ice creams thus reducing the public health hazards.