Microbiological assessment and hazardous effect of ready-to-eat foods presented for sale in Lucknow City, India

Street foods play an important role in people’s daily food options and their regular nutritional requirements are dependent on these foods, as their ever-growing busy schedule take away the opportunity to eat homemade food. Over the years, many food-borne diseases were reported due to contaminated non-homemade food consumption. This study was conducted to analyze the microbiological quality of foods which are sold on street side. Five most commonly consumed food items (samosa, chole, Panipuri, sandwich and momos) of street side carts of Lucknow City were tested. Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella, Staphylococcus aureus like pathogenic organisms were found to be present in the five food items studied. Aantibiotic sensitivity test was carried out and E. coli was found to be resistant to Itranadozole and Rifampicin. Klebsiella was found to be resistant to Rifampicin. S. aureus was found to be sensitive to all the antibiotics tested (Rifampicin, Vancomycin, Tetracycline and Streptomycin). The study further highlights the level of microbial load found in various available street foods. The microbial load was found to be highest in sandwich then panipuri followed by momos and comparatively less in chole and samosa. Key words: Microbiological, assessment, hazardous, ready-to-eat food.