Detection and antibiogram of bacterial contaminants in some commonly consumed indigenous street vended foods in Kasua Central Market in Kaduna North, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Some indigenous ready-to-eat foods, due to its affordability and availability serve as a major alternative to restaurants and high profiled eateries in developing countries. The hygiene standard of these foods is a critical point that needs to be considered due to microbial contamination by potential pathogens. A triplicate of three different food samples: Fura, Nunu, and Tuwo were collected and analysed to determine their microbiological safety. Bacterial isolates were identified using standard methods while antibiotic sensitivity test and multiple drug resistance pattern were carried out. The isolated bacteria: Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella 100yphi, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterobacter sp. While fungal isolates include: Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Rhizopus. oryzae and Penicillium sp. Salmonella sp. was observed to be resistant to 70% of the antibiotics while both Klebsiella sp. And Enterobacter sp. exhibited resistance to 60% of the tested antibiotics. S. aureus had the least resistance to about 30% of the tested Gram-positive antibiotics. Out of all the tested antibiotics, only Tarivid was observed to be effective against all the Gram-negative bacterial isolates, while Reflacine and Ciprofloxacine were effective against 80% of them. The presence of coliform bacteria in the sampled foods raise a great concern about the safety of the street vended foods in the sampled region in Nigeria. The microbiologically low quality of the vended ready-to-eat foods assayed in this study might have resulted from a relatively low level of hygiene observed by the vendors, as well as absence of regulatory body or hygiene codes to guide the street food vendors. From the results of this study, efforts should be intensified by all concerned to make sure that the safety of people remains paramount in the ways the vended foods are produced and distributed.