O-51 Microbiological analysis of street-vended beverages in Georgetown, Guyana.
Author(s):
B Ally-Charles, E Tyrell, R Holder, A Hutson
Year of Presentation:
2023
Objective: To analyse the bacteriological quality of streetvended juices from two of the main markets in Georgetown,
by enumerating the total viable bacteria and the total coliforms and identifying Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus
sp.
Methods: This study investigated 20 samples of streetvended juices. The type of container, whether plastic bag or bottle was noted. The juices tested included cherry, passion fruit and sorrel. Standard plate count method was used to determine total viable count on nutrient agar using serial dilutions. Media such as EMB, and MSA and other identification tests,were used to select for and identify coliforms, E.coli and Staphylococcus sp. The data were presented as mean±SD and numbers of positive samples.
Results: Higher microbial loads were seen with sugar cane juice (7.6±0.4 log cfu/ml or 4.6x10 7 cfu/ml) whilst sorrel (3.1 ± 4.4 log cfu/ml or 7.5 x 10 5 cfu/ml) had the least. About 90% of samples were contaminated with bacteria with an average of 5.8 ± 1.9 log cfu/ml or 2.1 x 10 7 cfu/ml. Of the 20 juices, 15 contained coliforms and five yielded E. coli. We identified Staphylocccus up to genus level and this was present in 13 samples. Sorrel juice had the lowest pH (4) and there were no significant differences observed when comparing containers.
Conclusion: Standards for ready to drink, non-carbonated beverages state that coliforms must be absent, therefore our findings are very worrying. We recommend that governmental and non-governmental agencies collaborate to bring more awareness about hygiene and storage techniques for street vendors.