ABSTRACT

Yoghurt is a cultured dairy product that can be made from whole cow fat or skim milk, including reconstituted non fatty dried milk powder. It is a suitable product for most delicacies and events and is a product of milk fermentation. Yoghurt contains a whole lot of probiotics that inhibit the habitation of harmful microorganisms. In human nutrition, the most frequently used probiotic microorganisms are Lactic acid bacteria..  This study is to evaluate the microbial count and identify lactobacillus in yoghurt. Five different brands of yogurt which are Mr fruit’s, Tito, Peak, Hollandia and creamella yoghurts  were used for this analysis. 1 ml of the water samples were pour plated into the media (MRS agar and Columbia agar). The plates were allowed to solidify and incubated for 24 hours at room temperature. Colonies were counted and identified using conventional biochemical means. Several tests, such as Gram reaction, catalase, urease, indole, oxidase, citrate utilization and respective reactions of bacteria on triple sugar iron agar, were carried out to identify bacterial isolates presumptively. Some of the bacterial strains were catalase negative, citrate positive and oxidase negative. The isolates  identified include Bacillus mycoides, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lysinibacillus fusiformis and Lactococcus lactis. The microbial anaerobic count for Tito Yoghurt, Peak Yoghurt, Creamella Yoghurt, Mr. Fruit's Yoghurt and Hollandia Yoghurt were 1.61±0.02, 0.96±0.31, 0.45±0.21, 1.04±0.14 and 1.45±0.18 (log10CFU/ml) respectively and the lactobacillus count was 0.71±0.06, 0.85±0.06, 0.66±0.30, 1.02±0.00 and 0.71±0.15 (log10CFU/ml) respectively. Mr. fruit’s, Tito, Peak and creamella yoghurts have high counts of all organisms claimed including lactococcus lactis, Bacillus mycoides, Lysinibacillus fusiformis except Lactobacillus acidophilus. Lactobacillus acidophilus was found in appreciable concentration in Hollandia yogurt.