MICROBIAL AND PHYSIOCHEMICAL PROFILE OF BRANDED AND UNBRANDED GROUNDNUT OIL

Processed food products have shown high potentials to be contaminated in suitable environmental conditions. Groundnut oil is one of such products. The study was conducted to determine the safest branded and unbranded groundnut oil sold in markets. Total bacterial count and Total fungal count were evaluated using standard microbiological methods. The result obtained showed that all the branded oil was free from bacterial contamination since they went through a series of refining processes. Although, they were contaminated with fungi. All the unbranded groundnut oil had bacterial and fungal contaminations of species which include; Bacillus (20%), Staphylococcus (20%), Enterobacter (6%), Micrococcus (27%), Fusarium, and Aspergillus sp. The total heterotrophic bacteria count for the unbranded groundnut oil samples ranged from 9.4×102 to 2.3×102 cfu/ml while total fungal counts for unbranded groundnut oil samples ranged from 5.5 ×100 and 2.0×100 cfu/ml. The total bacterial count for branded groundnut oil ranged from 3.0×100 and 2.0×100 which were within acceptable standards. The physicochemical parameters for unbranded groundnut oil did not exceed the acceptable limit. Nevertheless, consumers are encouraged to use more refined and branded groundnut oil as these fall closer to acceptable standards than regular unbranded ones.