Assessment of bacteriological quality of cooked pork meat sold along the commercial streets of Nkwen through Bambili Metropolis, Cameroon

This study aimed to analyze the bacteriological profile of commercially prepared pork sold along commercial streets of Nkwen through Bambili in Cameroon. A total of 11 duplicate randomly collected pork samples were analyzed microbiologically for bacteria. All the pork meat samples analyzed confirmed the presence of bacterial pathogens, indicating the need for strict implementation of food sanitation practices to reduce the possible risk of transmission of infection on consumption of these prepared pork. The mean microbial load on the cooked pork meat ranged between 1.9 x 104 - 3.8 x 104 cfu/g and total coliform count between 1.1 x 103-3.0 x 103 cfu/g. The bacterial isolated includes: Staphyloccocus aureus (81.8%) which was the most predominant, followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (72.7%), Escherichia coli (54.4%), Salmonella spp. (45.4%), Proteus vulgaris (27%) and Shigella spp. (9%). The presence of these organisms in cooked pork meat foods should receive particular attention, because their presence indicate public health hazard and give warning signal for the possible occurrence of food borne intoxication. Key words: Nkwen/Bambili, Escherichia coli, pork meat, total coliforms, bacteria.