The ubiquity in the hawking of locally produced soymilk, packaged in
different forms, was considered a public health concern. The attendant
increase in the rate of soymilk consumption has encouraged low scale
production of the milk under household condition with little or no
regard to quality control measures. Accordingly, branded and unbranded
soymilk samples were subjected to microbiological analyses to ascertain
their hygienic standard of production. The soymilk samples were found
to have pH in the range of pH 7.2 to 7.5. Screening for microbial
contaminants revealed generally high bacterial and fungal counts of 2.9
x 107 cells/ml. to 1.02 x 108 cells/ml. and 3.5 x 107 to 2.13 x 108
cells/ml. respectively as well as high Most Probable Number (180+) of
coliform bacilli per 100ml of each sample. Regular contamination with
Escherichia coli , other faecal coliforms and Staphylococcus
aureus was detected in all the samples. In addition,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa , other Gram-negative bacilli and
streptobacilli were detected in most of the nylon packed (unbranded)
samples. The fungal isolates were mainly Aspergillus spp.,
Penicillium spp and Fusarium . The microbial
population detected in terms of number and types reflected poor
hygienic standard of production, constituting a public health hazard
among the populace. There is a need to streamline soymilk production
for proper monitoring and quality assurance
