Level of Microbial Contamination of Freshly Prepared Fufu and Retailed Fufu

Fufu is an acid-fermented products produced through submerged fermentation of cassava root in water for days. The study was set to determine the microbiological quality and the physiochemical composition of freshly prepared fufu (FF) and retailed fufu (RF). A standard microbiological method was used in enumerating and identify bacteria and fungi species isolated. The total heterotrophic bacteria count ranges from Log10 cfu/g 2.14 to 6.18 and 3.56 to 7.06 for retailed fufu and freshly prepared fufu respectively. Predominant bacteria found in the samples studied and their percentage of distribution were Lactobacillus 17(23%), Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus sp. 14(19%), Bacillus sp. 13(18%), Micrococcus sp. 5(7%), Enterobacter and Corynebacterium were 4(5%) and Proteus has the least 3(4%). Among the fungi were Mucor sp. and Candida sp. were 6(26.1%), Aspergillus niger 4(17.4%), Saccharomyces sp. 5(21.7%), and Rhizopus sp.2(8.7). The proximate analysis revealed an insignificant difference in crude protein ranging from 1.36% in FF to 1.24 in RF, carbohydrates content 82.88% to83.12% in RF and FF, ash content is higher in FF ranging 7.33% to 1.53%  RF, while the moisture content is higher in RF with 9.47% and 1.78% in FF. Magnesium ranges from 38.4mg/ml in FF to 35.3mg/ml in RF .The results obtained showed that the fufu samples that were retailed were more contaminated than the freshly prepared fufu  which might pose risk to health. Therefore, there is a need for proper sanitary conditions and best processing and production especially during packing is recommended.