PREVALENCE OF MICROBES IN EXPIRED CANNED BEVERAGES SPOTTED IN SOME SUPERMARKETS IN PORT HARCOURT

With the continuous presence of expired can beverages in the market space, the determination of microbial prevalence following increased cases of fungal diseases have become paramount. One hundred (100) canned beverage samples (expired and non-expired) were spotted and analyzed for microbial density, heavy metal concentration and proximate analysis using standard microbiological procedure. The result showed no pseudomomad counts. However, growth was observed for Staphylococcal, Acetobacter, and heterotrophic bacteria/fungi. Heterotrophic bacteria reported 20 x 10 2 and 7 x 10 2 CFU/ml for expired and non-expired beverage respectively. Similarly, Staphylococcal counts of 1 x 10 2 and 0 x 10 2 CFU/ml were noted for expired and non-expired beverage respectively. Acetobacter reported counts of 6 x 10 2 CFU/ml for expired beverage while non-expired beverage showed 5 x 10 2 CFU/ml counts. Heterotrophic fungi were noted with 10 x 10 2 CFU/ml counts for expired beverage and non-expired beverage showed 4 x 10 2 CFU/ml counts. Statistically, the microbial counts obtained were not significant in both expired and non-expired. A total of 6 microbes, 3 fungal and 3 bacteria genera were obtained. The fungal genera and percentage prevalence were: Penicillin sp (35%), Mucor sp. (20%) and Aspergillus sp. (45%). Similarly, the bacteria and percentage prevalence were: Acetobacter aceti (29%), Proteus sp. (43%) and Staphylococcus aureus (29%). The heavy metal and proximate compositions of the beverage samples showed cadmium was not detected. Consequently, the metals (zinc, magnesium, calcium, iron) and proximate (moisture, crude protein, crude lipid, ash, fiber and carbohydrate) compositions were significantly not different in the samples. Thus, the study identified high prevalence of Proteus sp. and Aspergillus sp. in expired beverage samples that is significant, and have the capacity to disease outbreak following consumers’ negligence on expiry date. The study therefore advice consumers to be vigilant and observant on purchase as Proteus sp. and Aspergillus sp. have been reported with high prevalence.