Bacteriological Profile of Contamination of Artisanal Peanut Pastes Sold in the City of Bangui in the Central African Republic

Peanut pastes are the most popular ingredients in Central African cuisine. The processing, preservation, transportation and sales locations can promote the development of bacteria. The objective of this study was to count the germs that are indicators of hygiene and fecal contamination, isolate and identify them in peanut pastes. This is a cross-sectional study with an analytical aim. A total of 320 samples of peanut pastes sold in the city of Bangui were collected by random methods and analyzed in the food microbiology unit of the National Laboratory of Clinical Biology and Public Health. The indicator germs of hygiene and fecal contamination were counted and the other enterobacteria were isolated and identified. The enumeration of mesophilic flora was carried out according to the references and the standard in force NF V 08-051, total coliforms by the standards NF V 08-050, 2010 and NF V 08-060, 2010, fecal coliforms by the standard NF ISO 16649-2, 2001 and enterococci by the horizontal enumeration method according to the standard NFT 90-416. The data were collected on the ODK collection software. The Epi info version 6 software was used for data analysis and processing. The results obtained from this study showed that 96.3% of the peanut pastes were marketed by women. Among the sellers, 6.3% were illiterate; 65.6% had dropped out of primary school; 28.2% had dropped out of high school. The search for critical points using the HACCP method revealed that 3% of the sellers had knowledge of food hygiene, 27% could store peanut pastes well and 1% had an idea of the contamination of peanut pastes by germs. No seller had any knowledge of toxiinfection and food poisoning. The personal hygiene of the vendors showed that 14% had dirty clothes, and 11.88% had lesions on their skin. Note that 61.25% of peanut legs were preserved by humidity, and 1.88% by exposure to the sun. The microbial load of germs indicating hygiene and fecal contamination varied from 56 × 106 CFU/g to 219 × 106 CFU/g for mesophilic aerobic germs; 69 × 106 CFU/g to 71 × 106 CFU/g for total coliforms; 43 × 106 CFU/g to 88 × 106 CFU/g for fecal coliforms and enterococci from 3.65 × 106 CFU/g to 111.8 × 106 CFU/g depending on the place of sale (market). The overall prevalence of contamination was 54% by enterobacteria. Strains of Klebsiella pneumonae were 3.4%, Citrobactere koserii 4.6%, those of Enterobacter sakazakii, Flaviomonas horzitiabita, Klebsiella oxytoca and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were in the order of 5.7%. Strains of Proteus mirabilis, Enterobacter cloacae and Klebsiella spp were in the order of 10.3% and those of Escherichia coli were 29.9%. The results of this study revealed the presence of hygiene indicator germs, fecal contamination that could be the cause of food-borne infectious diseases. The unsanitary conditions of sales locations and the lack of knowledge of the hygiene rules applicable to foodstuffs are a risk to consumer health.