Abstract

Food samples made up of three meat types of 72 samples each of fresh meat from abattoir and open traditional market and “ready to eat” grilled meat (suya) and three vegetable types consisting of 72 each of cabbage, lettuce and tomatoes all totaling 432 samples, were screened to determine the presence of Escherichia coli 0157:H7 in these food items sold in Benin City, Nigeria. Of the total food samples analyzed E. coli was isolated from 365(84.45%) out of which 10(2.32%) had E. coli 0157:H7. 72(100%) each of the abattoir and open traditional market samples had E. coli, while 41(56.9%) suya samples had E. coli isolated from them. Of these, 5(6.94%) abattoir samples, 2(2.78) open traditional market and 3(4.17%) suya samples had E. coli 0157:H7 present on them. The cabbage, lettuce and tomatoes had 48(66.67%), 68(94.99%) and 64(88.8%) samples with E. coli respectively. E. coli 0157:H7 was not detected in any of the vegetable samples. Most significant of the result is the finding that E. coli 0157:H7 is present in meat sold in Benin City, Nigeria and especially in the “ready to eat” grilled meat (suya) which is consumed directly without further processing. There is therefore the need for health authorities to put in place measures to prevent possible E. coli0157:H7 outbreak.

Key words: Escherichia coli 0157:H7, meat, vegetables, suya.