Microbiological Quality of Freshly Prepared, Packaged Fruit and Milk Juices Sold in Cafés, Shops, and Supermarkets in Hargeisa, Somaliland

Background: Due to their delicious taste, high nutritional content, and health benefits, fruit juices are well-known drinks in many countries and are now an essential component of the modern diet. Objective: Determining the microbiological quality of both packaged and freshly made fruit and milk juices. Method: The spread-plate approach was employed to isolate and count the bacteria. 90 ml of sterile peptone water were blended with 10 ml of well-mixed, packed, and freshly made fruit juices. The samples were sequentially diluted (101 - 105) in accordance with the Indian Manual of Food Microbiological Testing Methods. Results: From eight samples of imported packaged fruit and milk juice, the average of total coliform, staphylococci, and viable bacterial counts were zero, 1.39 × 102, and 2 × 102 CFU/ml, respectively. In contrast, from three samples of locally produced fruit and milk juice, the average of total coliform, staphylococci, and viable bacterial counts were zero, 5.83 × 102, and 2.73 × 103 CFU/ml, respectively. Four samples of handmade prepared fruit and milk juices had a mean of total coliform, staphylococci, and viable bacterial count of 1.441 × 104, 4.1 × 103, and 2.35 × 105 CFU/ml, respectively. Conclusion: 33.3% of the results from microbiological analysis of freshly made fruit and milk juices met the permissible range of the Revised Microbiological Standards for Fruit and Vegetables and Their Products, which were published in 2018 and as well as the Hong Kong Center for Food Safety, whereas 66.7% of the microbiological analyses of freshly prepared fruit and milk juices were above the permissible reference range of GSO standard 2000. 12.5% of the investigated imported and packed fruits and milk juices had one failed test (TSC), which was above the acceptable limit, 87.5% of the tested samples of fruit and milk juices fulfilled the necessary standards of TCC, TVBC, and TSC. 100% of the tested locally manufactured fruit and milk juices complied with TSC, TCC, and TVBC requirements. All investigations showed that freshly made fruit and milk juices were heavily contaminated (Total viable bacterial count, total coliform count, and total staphylococcus count). .

A portable viable Salmonella detection device based on microfluidic chip and recombinase aided amplification

creening of foodborne pathogens is important to prevent contaminated foods from their supply chains.n this study, a portable detection device was developed for rapid, sensitive and simple detection of viable almonella using a finger-actuated microfluidic chip and an improved recombinase aided amplification (RAA) assay. Improved propidium monoazide(PMAxx) was combined with RAA to enable this device to distinguish viable bacteria from dead ones. The modification of PMAxx into dead bacteria, the magnetic xtraction of nucleic acids from viable bacteria and the RAA detection of extracted nucleic acids were performed using the microfluidic chip on its supporting device by finger press-release operations. The fluorescent signal resulting from RAA amplification of the nucleic acids was collected using a USB camera nd analyzed using a self-developed smartphone App to quantitatively determine the bacterial concenration. This device could detect Salmonella typhimurium in spiked chicken meats from 1.3 × 10^(2) CFU/m L o 1.3 × 10^(7) CFU/m L in 2 h with a lower detection limit of 130 CFU/m L, and has shown its potential for on-site detection of foodborne pathogens.