Microbial Profiles of Hands, Foods, Easy Contact Surfaces and Food Contact Surfaces: A Case Study of a University Campus

Human hands usually harbour microbes both as part of body normal flora as well as transient microbes acquired from the environment. One common way by which transient organisms of hand are picked up is by contact with food and surfaces. A total of 130 samples consisting of 40 hand swabs, 20 each of food samples and food contact surfaces and 10 each of swabs from banisters, table top, door handles, taps handles and toilet flushers were collected from different locations of the University campus. Samples were analyzed for total aerobic plate count, fungal count, coliform count and for specific organisms. About 98% of hand swabs, food contact and the easy contact surfaces were contaminated with diverse organisms. Hand swabs from the halls of residence and Library had higher levels of contaminations 2.1x105 and 1.9x105 cfu respectively. Toilet flushers and Banisters had TAPC of 8.3x106 and 4.8x106. Moin-moin, Fried rice and Coleslaw had counts of 3.2x107, 1.6x106 and 1.1x106 cfu/g. The predominant microorganisms isolated were Bacillus spp., Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., Aspergillus spp., Fusarium spp., Penicillium spp. and Actinomycetes. Also present in the food samples and contact surfaces are Klebsiella spp., Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. Different types of organisms can be picked up from the environment specifically the easy contact surfaces and the hand can be the most important means by which enteric pathogens are transmitted. Likewise, the rate of food borne illness can be greatly reduced by effective HACCP, GMP and hand washing.

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