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ABSTRACT
Groundnut and its derivatives are often classified as street food which is readily available and affordable to the urban population. However, it can be contaminated by a wide variety of microorganisms due to its high nutritive content. This study was carried out to determine the microbial quality of roasted, boiled and fried groundnuts sold in five major areas in Benin City, Nigeria. The microbial load from each locations differs, while that of bacterial isolates ranged between 1x102 to 3x102 , 1x102 to 4x102 and 2x102 to 6x102 cfu/g for boiled, fried and raw groundnut sample . The total fungal counts ranged between 4x102 to 6x102 , 2x102 to 6x102 and 2x102 to 6x102 cfu/g for boiled, fried and raw groundnut sample . The bacterial isolates found associated with this groundnut products were Micrococcus sp., Proteus sp., Bacillus sp. and Staphylococcus sp. The fungi isolated were Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus sp. and Fusarium sp. The dominant bacterial isolate was Staphylococcus sp. with a percentage frequency of 33.66% while the dominant fungi isolated was Aspergillus flavus with a percentage frequency of 50%. All isolates were susceptible to pefloxacin and showed resistance to most antibiotics. Proper seed sorting, good handling procedures and personal hygiene could be recommended to reduce the contamination of groundnut seeds sold by vendors.
