TOPS OF BEVERAGE CANS ARE A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF INFECTION: A STUDY OF BACTERIAL LOAD PRESENT ON THE LIDS OF BEVERAGE CANS

It is common practice to drink directly from tops of beverage cans which are exposed to environmental contaminants during handling and storage. The purpose of this research was to determine the bacterial load present on the lids of beverage cans and find out the ways to significantly reduce the number of bacteria present on them. One hundred and eighty apparently clean and non-refrigerated beverage cans were collected from different shops and divided into two groups. First group was used for cleaning experiments and second group was used to determine the effect of refrigeration on bacterial load. Different types of bacteria were isolated which belonged to Bacillus spp, Staphylococcus spp, Corynebacterium spp, Streptococcus spp, Klebsiella spp and Escherichia spp. AST result pattern of S. aureus isolates did not show the presence of MRSA and MSSA. E. coli isolates were found to be highly sensitive to ceftriaxone and highly resistant to erythromycin. Cleaning with tap water plus wiping with dry tissue resulted in maximum removal of bacterial load (76.6%) as compared to other methods (68.8% with dry tissue and 47.3% with tap water) and is thus the most effective method for this purpose. Refrigeration lowered the bacterial load by 16.6%, but it depends upon the type of bacteria present. Beverage cans are present in different environments and are handled by different people and thus can be a potential source of infection for the consumers. It is highly recommended that beverage cans should be cleaned before drinking.