Assessment of the microbiological quality of beverages sold in collective cafes on the campuses of the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin Republic

Fresh juices are highly nutritious foods for human beings, but the inability to observe requirements for their preparation, packaging and storage subjects them to microbial contamination which poses a potential health risk to consumers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the microbiological quality of beverages sold within the cafes of the campuses of Abomey-Calavi University (Benin). A survey carried out among beverage vendors showed that the sources of contamination were uncontrolled and the raw materials used were of questionable quality as the operators lacked good hygienic practices. Thus, the microbial quality of forty-five samples of four types of beverages sold in these cafes was investigated for mesophilic aerobic flora, coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, sulfate-reducing anaerobic spores, fungal flora and Salmonella spp. using standardized methods. Then, molecular studies identified the pathogenic strains isolated from the beverages. An antibiotic susceptibility test was performed on the strains identified for the detection of multi-resistant bacteria. These analyses revealed a non-compliance rate of 100% in the analyzed samples. The indicators that caused this non-compliance in the samples were mesophilic aerobic flora, coliforms and fungi. In addition, 85.7% of the samples contained other Enterobacteriaceae including Klebsiella pneumoniae, Morganella morganii, Kluyvera georgiana, Citrobacter murliniae, Yersinia intermedia. While the non-compliance rates of the samples for Salmonella spp and E.coli were 4.4% each, the non-compliance rate for S. aureus was 2.2% with the presence of sometimes multi-resistant pathogenic bacteria. Sellers' awareness of good hygiene practices is important for improving the quality of food sold.