Microbial Profile and Safety of Selected Street Vended Foods and Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns of Isolates in Adama City, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Street vended foods are ready to consume foods prepared and serve on the street. Health risks related to such kinds of foods are thought to be common. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine microbial quality, safety and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of isolates from selected street vended foods in Adama city. A total of 96 food samples (32 from each food type) were collected aseptically from four vending sites (Amede gebeya, ASTU, Franko and around Hailemariam Mamo-Hospital) where there are a number of street food vendors and their customers. Food samples were collected using vendors’ serving utensils and placed into sterilized plastic zipper bags and transported (using ice box) to Bacteriology Laboratory, Adama Public Health Research and Referral Laboratory. Identification of isolates was done using MALDI TOF technique at Sebeta. Socio-demographic data and knowledge about food safety and hygienic nature of street-vended food venders were collected using a structured questionnaire. The result showed that more than half (52.1%) of vendors were women, 10 (10.4%) had no formal education, 69 (71.9%) of the vendors didn’t have protective cloth, more than half of the vendors (51%) had no frequent hand washing habit, and 58.3% wore no hair covering. Of 96 food samples of street vended food analyzed 53 tested positive for microbial count. In this study E. coli 44(56.4%) and staphylococcus aureus 34(43.6%) were isolated frequently. No Salmonella was detected in all food samples. E. coli isolates were resistant to maximum of six antibiotics and Staphylococcus aureus showed resistance to seven antibiotics. The data showed the E. coli strains did not harbor Enterotoxigenic Lt (ETEC) and St (ETEC). The data also showed S. aureus isolates did not harbor blaZ and mecA resistant genes. Generally, the microbial quality of street-vended food in Adama city was below the acceptable level and calls for special attention.