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Microbial Contamination of Food Available in Sub Metropolitan City Birgunj in Nepal and Its Effect on Human Health

Authors:
Ankita Shrivastava at Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Ankita Shrivastava
Bisheswar Prasad Yadav
Bisheswar Prasad Yadav
Umesh Prasad Shrivastava at Tribhuvan University
Umesh Prasad Shrivastava
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An epidemiological study on food-borne pathogens and bacterial infection etiology of road side food stalls and slaughtering houses in sub metropolitan city Birgunj, Nepal was performed. The objective of this study was to identify and evaluate the food-borne bacterial agents present in several food products and analyze the real cause of misleading human safety. To attain our objective twenty five food handlers were interviewed using a semi-structured researcher-administered questionnaire, most of them reported diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and fever may be caused by food contaminations. Microbiological analysis of 48 samples of ready-to-eat food revealed the presence of Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella typhi, Shigella sonnei, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa contamination in most of them. E. coli, Salmonella and Shigella were recovered from various samples of mutton and chicken. The prevalence of food contamination in the food stalls was found due to lack of knowledge at one hand but negligence of food handlers on the other hand. Those food handlers who know the disease associated with food contamination in the interview, food samples from their stalls also showed positive result in food contamination shows their negligence. Maximum bacterial load (58 x 106 CFU/g) was seen in that area (Kumhal tole) where the rate of sale is slow, whereas minimum load (360 CFU/g) in fast rate of sale ie Meena bazaar. Various types of pathogenic bacteria may contaminate food have been reported time to time in literature from many parts of the world. We find in the present study that training of food safety to food handlers and strictly implementation of hygiene condition by the government is the present demand in the sub metropolitan city Birgunj, Nepal.
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