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Sanitary quality and proximate composition of vernonia amygdalina, telfairae occidentalis and talinum triangulare commonly used for Nigerian dishes

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Author Affiliations

  • 1University of Port Harcourt Department of Microbiology PMB 5323 River state Nigeria
  • 2University of Port Harcourt Department of Microbiology PMB 5323 River state Nigeria

Int. Res. J. Biological Sci., Volume 11, Issue (1), Pages 1-5, February,10 (2022)

Abstract

Vegetables are an important part of human diet because of its nutritious contents and roles it plays in fighting diseases away from our body. 30 vegetable samples comprising of Vernonia amygdalina (bitter leaf), Telfairae occidentalis (pumpkin leaf), and Talinum triangulare (waterleaf) were purchased randomly from the Choba market so as to evaluate the microbial quality using standard microbiological methods. The total heterotrophic bacterial count of these leafy vegetables ranged from 5.45x106 to 2.57x107cfu/g. The percentage occurrence of the bacteria species isolated from the vegetable samples are Escherichia coli 25%, Salmonella sp 15.59%, Staphylococcus sp 21.15%, Bacillus sp 11.51%, Klebsiella sp 7.69%, Shigella sp 7.69%, Micrococcus sp 5.77% and Enterobacter sp 5.77%. The fungal counts of the vegetable samples ranged from 1.5x104 to 7.1x104cfu/g. The percentage occurrence of the fungal species isolated are Aspergillus sp 40%, Candida sp 20%, Pencillum sp 20%, Fusarium sp 6.67%, and Geotrichum sp 13.33%. It was observed that microbial contamination of various vegetable samples are as a result of indigenous microbes that are found in the soil and poor hygienic practices of vendors. Both the vendors and consumers should be enlightened on the sanitary practices while displaying, selling and processing of vegetables and health implications of these pathogenic organisms associated with vegetables so as to avoid foodborne infections.

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