Bacteriological Status of Water Melon (Citrullus Lanatus) Sold in Mile III Market Port Harcourt

The study was carried out to investigate the bacteriological status of freshly sliced water melo n in mile III market Port Harcourt. A total of 20 sliced water melons was collected while one whole water melon collected was used as control in this study. The control sample was proper ly washed with sterile water and sliced aseptically. A sterile knife was used to cut 1.0g from each water melon sa mple and homogenized on a sterile mortar and pestle. The res ultant homogenate was pipette (1.0ml) into 9.0ml of distil led water and serially diluted. The 10 dilution was plated out on Nutrient and MacConkey agar plates respectively usi ng spread plate technique. The plates were incubated at 37c for 24 hours. The cultured plates were examined for col ny growth and identification of isolates. The result s howed that bacteria isolated from the sliced water melon were Staphylococcus aureus had 414 (45.8%). Escherichia c oli 324 (35.5%), Bacillus spp 144 (15.8%), and Proteus 30 ( 3.3%)The control result showed that staphylococcus was the o nly organism that had a colony growth on the culture pl ate while others had no growth. The result showed that since t he control had only a colony of staphylococcus on cult ure plate after it has been hygienically processed, contamina tion of the sliced water melon maybe due to poor sanitary condi tion employed by the vendors during processing and packa ging. This is of public health concern as these organisms are known causes of food born diseases and food poisoni ng. Keyword – Bacteriological, Mile III, Market, Watermelon.