Microbial Contamination of Ready-to-Eat Fufu Produced from Fufu Pounding Machines in the Mampong Municipality of the Ashanti Region, Ghan <br>

<p>This study was carried out with the aim to examine the microbial load in ready-to-eat fufu produced from fufu pounding machines in the Mampong Municipality of the Ashanti Region of Ghana. A survey using a structured questionnaires covering demographic information, food hygienic practices, knowledge and risk factors of food borne pathogens were admitted to respondents. For the second part of the study, a total of twenty readyto-eat fufu samples were aseptically collected from three communities and analyzed for microbial contamination of various microbial groups. Standard laboratory methods including dilution, spreading, incubation, enumeration and identification were employed to isolate and identify the microorganisms. Various bacterial genera were isolated: Salmonella spp. (25%), Shigella spp. (85%), Klebsiella spp. (25%), Escherichia coli (30%), and Staphylococcus aureus (70%) of which all samples had at least one organism. Of the respondents, 84% did not wash or disinfect their hand before and after operating the fufu pounding machine. Additionally, 68% of the fufu pounding machine operator’s hands have direct contact with the pounded ready-to-eat fufu and also 70% of the machine operators do not cover their hair during the course of operating the machine. There was evidence of poor hygienic practices in handling the fufu pounding machines and could have accounted for microbial contamination of ready-to-eat fufu produced.</p> <div> </div>