Bioburden and Antibacterial Susceptibility Pattern of Hand Manual Grinders used in different Markets in Ozoro, Delta State.

In Nigeria, the situation of most markets, experiences poor environmental sanitation and personal hygiene thereby encouragingthe spread of pathogens and infectious diseases in the communities. This study examined the bioburden and antibacterial susceptibility pattern of hand manual Grinders used in different markets in Ozoro, Delta State. Twenty (20) samples (5 samples from each category of food items: Pepper/Spices, Crayfish, Ogbono and Egusi) were randomly collected by aseptically scrapping the market hand manual grinders initially used to ground the selectedfood stuffs. The bacterial mean total viable count (cfu/g) for sample A (Pepper/Spices) is 2.1x105cfu/g, sample B (Crayfish) 2.6x105cfu/g, sample C (Ogbono) 3.1x105cfu/g and sample D (Egusi) 3.5x105cfu/g. A total of 62 bacterial species comprising of Seven (7) genera was identified which includes Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus species, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi and Streptococcus species. Staphylococcus aureus has the highest prevalence of occurrence 24(38.7%) while the least was recorded by Salmonella typhi 3(4.8%) and Streptococcus species 3(4.8%).The susceptibility testing of the bacteria isolates against different antibiotics indicates that Ciprofloxacin, Levofloxacin, Gentamicin and Ofloxacin are the most effective against the bacteria tested while the least was Augmentin and Amoxicillin. The resistance of the bacterial isolates to Augmentin and Amoxicillin in this present study is of public health concern. As such, hand manual grinders used in the marketfor grinding food stuffs should be properly cleaned before and after use, market sanitation and personal hygiene should be observed and encouraged regularly to reduce spread of infectious diseases.