Microbial quality of some street-vended and restaurant vegetable salads in the Ho municipality of Ghana

A salad is a food mainly made up of raw fruits or vegetables and is most often susceptible to microbial contamination. This study assessed the microbial quality of salads sold at selected restaurants and roadside food joints in the Ho municipality of Ghana. Bacteriological analysis were done with some selective and general media and incubated for 24 h 28 ± 1 °C while mycological were carried out using standard methods and plated on fungi media and incubated for 5–7 days at 28 ± 1 °C. Also, parasitological analyses were carried out by standard methods on all salad samples. Bacterial counts ranged between 2.88 × 106—2.85 × 107 while fungal counts ranged between 3.96 ± 0.07–5.06 ± 0.15 log10 CFU/g which revealed that all were above the standards set by the Ghana Standard Authority. Toxicogenic fungi from the genera Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium were isolated. Some parasites; Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, and Cyclospora spp. were seen in the salad samples. There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) between samples from restaurants and roadside in terms of bacteriological and fungal quality. This suggests a non-adherence to good hygiene practices and good management practices by both restaurant and roadside salad vendors.