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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Food safety, which focuses on disease-causing bacteria and their toxins that may contaminate the food, is the essential component of food microbiology. This is why it is crucial to understand the potential contribution of microbes linked to particular diets. In this article we compared microbiomes (bacteria and fungi) of commercial fufu grinding machines, mortars and pestles used at selected homes in Ayeduase, a suburb of Kumasi. Samples were taken from three distinct locations for fufu grinding machines and three different places for traditional procedure using mortar and pestle. Sample collection was done at each site and home twice a day, before work began and after the day’s work. Samples collected from grinding sites were coded G1S1, G1S2, G2S1, G2S2, G3S1 and G3S2, while samples collected from homes were codes T1S1, T1S2, T2S1, T2S2, T3S1 and T3S2. Morphological, biochemical characterization and microscopic identification were done for all the isolates using standard bacteriological methods. Bacteria counts of samples from fufu grinding machines ranged between 7.5X10^11 and 2.73X10^12 CFU/ml, whiles those obtained from mortars and pestles ranged between 2.5X10^11 and 1.96X10^12 CFU/ml. This result showed there was no significant difference between the samples obtained from grinding machines and samples obtained from mortars and pestles statistically (p > 0.05). All twenty-nine pure culture isolates for bacteria sub-culturing were Gram positive from Gram staining. The dominant isolates were Staphylococcus sp. (65.5%), Diplococcus sp. (13.79%), Streptococcus sp. (10.34%) and Bacillus (10.34%). Fungal morphology and identification of samples were also done based on standard identification keys. The dominant fungi genera identified were Trichophyton, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Blastomyces, Cladosporium and Penicillium. This study also concluded that bacteria and fungi genera associated with commercial fufu grinding machines and mortars and pestles are Staphylococcus, Diplococcus, Streptococcus, Bacillus, Trichophyton, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Blastomyces, Cladosporium and Penicillium and that grinding machines have higher numbers of bacteria and fungi as compared to mortars and pestles.