African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (11), pp. 1107-1112, 2 June 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Hygienic status assessment of dish washing waters, utensils, hands and pieces of money from street food processing sites in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)

Barro Nicolas¹*, Bello Abdoul R.², Savadogo Aly², Ouattara Cheik Amadou T.², Ilboudo A. Jules² and Traoré Alfred S.²

¹Département de Biochimie Microbiologie, Centre de Recherche en Sciences Biologiques, Alimentaires et Nutritionnelles (CRSBAN) ; 03 B.P. 7021 Ouagadougou 03, Université de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

²Laboratoire de Technologie Alimentaire, Centre de Recherche en Sciences Biologiques, Alimentaires et Nutritionnelles (CRSBAN); 03 B.P. 7021 Ouagadougou 03, Université de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

*Corresponding authors E-mail: nicolas_barro@univ-ouaga.bf ,  barronicolas@yahoo.fr. Tel/Fax: (226) 50 33 73 73.

Accepted 28 March, 2006

During investigations on street food vendors’ materials, seventy samples of three types of dish washing water (E₁, E₂, E₃), eighty-five pieces of money, eighty utensils were collected for microbiological assessment. Hands microbiological status of one hundred twenty-five consumers and seventy sellers were also assessed. The analysis revealed that 100% of E₁ washing waters were very impure, while, 44.5% of second washing water (E₂) were impure, 44.5% very impure and 11% acceptable. 45.45% of E₃ washing water were acceptable, 27.27% impure and 27.27% very impure. The spoons and the dinner plates were sometimes contaminated with unacceptable levels (above 10²) of different bacteria such as, coliforms and Staphylococcus aureus (P ≤ 0.05). Knives microbiological examination revealed presence of numerous bacteria (8.6 x 10⁵ cfu/knife) such as coliforms, S. Aureus, Salmonella and Shigella. Pieces of money analysis revealed presence of coliforms and S. aureus. These data showing pathogen bacteria in food vending sites indicates hygiene monitoring failure.

Key words: Street foods, hands, pieces of money, utensils, dish washing waters, bacteria, hygiene.