ABSTRACT

The results obtained from this research work shows that land snails sold in Ekpoma market contains some pathogenic microorganisms. A total of fifty samples were bought from 10 different local sellers (five snail samples each) in Ekpoma old market and the new market. The total viable count of bacteria ranged from 2.2 x 108 cfu/g - 8.2 x 108 cfu/g. The lowest was recorded in sample I  having a total bacteria count of 2.2 x 108 cfu/g and the highest count was observed in sample D obtained from the old market (close to a refuge dump) with a corresponding count of 8.2 x 108 cfu/g. The least fungal count was 8.0 x 106 cfu/g of snail sample I obtained from the new market (in a shade) while the highest count was obtained from sample D in the old  market (close to a refuge dump) with a total fungal count of 1.4  x 107 cfu/g. The organisms isolated were Lactobacillus spp, Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella spp., Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum, Aspergillus terrus. Microbiological assessment of snail in this study showed that the snail samples harbour quite a number of highly pathogenic bacteria of potential public health hazard to the dependants as protein source. There is therefore the need to set a thermal standard and time of cooking that would be sufficient for complete inactivation of pathogens while the nutritive contents would remain unaffected.

Contents

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