Isolation of Salmonellae from Fermented Milk (Nono) and the Knowledge Attitude and Practices of Consumers and Sellers of Nono in Gwagwalada, FCT, Abuja, Nigeria

Milk and milk products play an important role in food borne diseases.This study was carried out to determine Salmonella from Nono.Thirty samples of locally fermented milk products (Nono) were obtained from eight locations namely; Paikon kore, Kutunku, Phase 2 quarters, Teaching hospital, Dukpa road, Permanent site, Giri, Gwagwalada market all in Gwagwalada area council, F.C.T Abuja.The milk samples were cultured for Salmonella.spp Isolates were phenotypically and biochemically identified to genus level.Ten percent (10%) of the samples were contaminated with Salmonella spp.Antibiogram of the isolates revealed 100% susceptibility to ciprofloxacin, amoxicillin and tarivid, with (66.66%) to sparfloxacin.Salmonella spp showed (100%) resistance to commonly used antibiotics like septrin, augmentin, streptomycin, gentamicin and pefloxacin, and variable resistance to chloramphenicol (66.66%) and sparfloxacin (33.33%) was recorded in some of the isolates.All resistant isolates had a multiple antibiotics resistance index of 0.6 (100%).A total of 102 study participants were interviewed on the knowledge attitude and practices of salmonellosis in milk.There were variations in responses among the respondents in the study area.The important prominent response observed were the level of informal education 33.3%, primary education 18.6%, secondary education 16.7% and 31.3% had tertiary education.From this survey 14.7% of the respondents had no knowledge of Salmonella and 6.9% were not aware that Salmonella can be transmitted via milk.Based on the risk factor, 100% of the cattle handlers milk the cows with their bare hands.52.9% use stream water to process the milk.Conclusion, the general sanitary condition of the milking environment, utensils, and personnel hygienic practices should be standard.Multidrug-resistant strains of Salmonella in food of animal origin is of public health concern.Hence, implementation of Salmonella prevention and control strategies from farm production to consumption is crucial.