A SURVEY STUDY TO ISOLATE SOME PATHOGENIC BACTERIA FOR COOKED RICE AT BAGHDAD CITY
N. A. Handhal, Asmaa Sabah Ahmaed
Abstract
The current study was designed to assess the microbial safety status of rice dishes offered for sale at various local and branded restaurants. Purposely, 30 samples of rice dishes were collected from 16 local and 14 branded restaurants in Baghdad city for two seasons, summer and winter. All the collected samples were subjected to micro-biological examination to determine the prevalence and comparative enumeration of the total count, Bacillus cereus, coliform, and forming spores in rice. Results pertaining to the enumeration of the total count, Bacillus cereus, coliform, and spores-forming bacteria exhibited the highest count Logarithmic: for summer collected from branded restaurants F.S (5.81), and local restaurants coliform (7.82). And winter from collected from branded restaurants T.C (7.81), and local restaurants coliform (4.44). The highest count observed Bacillus cereus in branded restaurants, and coliform in local restaurants. Further, the results of the current study revealed that 42% of rice samples collected from local restaurants and 58% from branded restaurants have unsatisfactory safety status for B. cereus. 38% of rice samples collected from local restaurants and 62% from branded restaurants have unsatisfactory safety status for forming spores. Similarly, for coliform 63 and 42% of samples were found unsatisfactory from local and branded restaurants, respectively.