Background: Food contact surfaces are surfaces that encounter food for humans. It can harbor and introduce pathogens into food. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the microbiological quality of food contact surfaces (utensils) from hotels and restaurants in Addis Ababa. Methods: We used cross-sectional study design in which 12 hotels and 28 restaurants were randomly selected in Addis Ababa. Swab samples from utensils of hotels and restaurants were collected (i.e. four utensils from each establishment) and analyzed over the period of three months resulting in a total of 160 swab samples. Result: Among the hotel and restaurant utensils the highest median count of log total coliform was obtained on trays (5.93log10CFU/100cm2 in hotels and 5.00log10CFU/100 cm2, in restaurants). Faecal coliform and E.coli was detected in 14.37% and 3.12% of utensils, respectively. The highest median count of log S.aureus was 5.95log10CFU/100cm2 on tray in hotel and 5.57log10CFU/100cm2 on dipper in restaurant and, the median counts of log APC was 9.37log10CFU/100cm2 on tray in Hotel and 8.51log10CFU/100cm2 on spoon in restaurant. Conclusion: The finding showed that there is high microbial load and inadequacy of washing and cleaning services in hotels and restaurants in Addis Ababa. Hence, there is a need to strengthen monitoring and supervision system is hotels and restaurants.

Keywords: Microbial, utensils, contact surfaces.