Evaluation of microbial quality of street food in Karachi City, Pakistan: An epidemiological study

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the microbial quality of famous street foods vended in Karachi city and find out the potential sources implicated in food contamination. To proceed with this study, dry and wet procedures were used via closed system questionnaire and gold standard techniques respectively. According to the questionnaire survey, majority of people have basic knowledge of food borne sickness i.e. 67% and health risks associated with poor eating habits i.e. 87%, nonetheless most individuals do not mind their cleanliness before eating on spot. A large number of people had come across different food borne infections subsequent to eating street foods. Total mean aerobic count was 7.18±1.26 CFU/ml that was not under the acceptable microbial limits. The highest total viable count 9.15±0.01 CFU/ml and the lowest total viable count 4.67±4.04 CFU/ml recorded were of grilled chicken and fried fish respectively. Poor post handling and personal cleanliness of food venders were ascribed to high bacterial count in completely cooked street foods.