Abstract :
The bacteriology of Zobo drink prepared and sold at nine market; Alamisi market, Ikirun; Oluode market, Osogbo; Oja obi market, Ila-Orangun, Ede;Sabo market, Ile-ife; Ilesha market, Owena market; Timi market; Orile owu market, Ikire market in Osun state Nigeria were assessed. Zobo drinks were purchased from these markets on twelve different occasions for a period of six month. The samples were bacteriologically analyzed using standard methods. All the screened drink samples had varying levels of bacterial contamination ranging from 1.2 x 10² to 1.2 x 10⁶ CFU/ml for a total viable count. 58.3% of the total sampled drinks (n=108) i.e (63/108) had bacterial count above the acceptable limit 10⁴CFU/ml. While all the drinks sampled had total coliform count exceeding the recommended safe level of zero organisms detectable per 100ml. seven bacteria species were isolated from the zobo drinks sampled. The bacteria isolated were E coli, Bacillus species, S aureus, S faecalis, proteus species, Enterobacter species, and Klebsiella species. E coli, Bacillus species, Enterobacter species and S aureus were isolated from all the samples. The present finding revealed that zobo drinks retailed and sold in these markets are potential vehicles for transmitting food borne illness, thus the need to develop Good Manufacturing Process (GMP) and Post Production Preservation and Packaging technique.
