Microbiological Assessment and Identification of Enteric Bacteria Found in Common Street Foods Collected from Different University Premises in Dhaka City

Abstract

Street foods mean ready to eat foods and beverages that are prepared and sold especially in streets or similar public places. The street foods are prepared under unhygienic conditions and displayed openly to a high degree of contamination. The objective of this study was to isolate and identify the presence of enteric bacteria (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp, Shigella spp, Salmonella spp and Vibrio spp) in different street vended foods collected from different university premises in Dhaka city. Thirty food samples were collected from fixed and mobile vendors from different areas of Dhaka city. The tested samples were jhal-muri, fuchka, vhel-puri, panipuri, bun, cake, danish, chola, peaju, sweet, sheek-kabab, laddu, singara, somucha etc. Sterile polythene bags were used to collect three different samples from each university. They were tested for the presence of microorganisms following conventional microbiological processes. Biochemical tests were performed for the confirmation of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp, Shigella spp, Salmonella and Vibrio spp. Among 30 samples divided into categories, 4 (13%) samples contained E. coli, 4 (13%) samples contained Klebsiella pneumonia and 2 (7%) samples contained Vibrio spp. All these enteric pathogens could be the potential cause for food-borne illnesses and provision of education to the vendors would improve quality of street foods