Microbiological quality assessment of suya sold in Yenagoa, metropolis, Nigeria

This study assessed the microbial quality of suya sold in Yenagoa metropolis, Nigeria. Triplicate sample of suya were purchased from six communities in Yenagoa metropolis. Standard microbiological procedures were used for determining the microbial diversity and density. Results for the total heterotrophic bacteria, total coliform and total fungi ranged from 3.93 – 4.98, 2.94– 3.33 and 2.84 – 3.48 Log cfu/g, respectively. Analysis of variance showed that there were no significance differences (P>0.05) among the suya sample vended in some location in Yenagoa metropolis, Bayelsa state, Nigeria. Six and four bacterial and mould isolates were identified and among them the highest and least occurrence frequenies were Staphylococcus aureus (28.1%) and Proteus species (9.3%) for bacteria and  Aspergillus niger (39.7%) and Mucor species (11.8%) for mould respectively. Other bacterial isolates include Escherichia coli, Bacillus, Micrococcus and Pseudomonas species and fungi isolates were Aspergillus flavus  and Penicillium species. The implication of microbial diversity and density on potential consumers of suya in Yenagoa metropolis were discussed