Incidences of staphylococcus aureus and clostridium perfrigens in smoked fish at three local markets in Kampala

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the major bacteria causing food-borne diseases in humans in addition to Clostridium perfringens. This report presents findings on research designed to determine the presence of Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium perfringens in smoked Nile tilapia. A total of 100 samples were collected from three markets that is Kalerwe, Bwaise and Wandegeya, the presence of Staphylococcus aureus was confirmed in all the samples. None of the fish samples collected were contaminated with Clostridium perfringens. The levels of Staphylococcus aureus ranged from 6.87×107to 8.59×108Cfu/g with the highest load of bacteria infestation from Wandegeya to and lowest in Kalerwe market. The smoked fish from the selected market is potentially injurious to human health or is unfit for human consumption as it elicits the maximum load (1.0×105Cfu/g) to cause an infection as outlined by WHO and UNBS. It is recommended that in order to prevent the spread of organisms that are of public health importance, fish should be processed in a proper manner, stored and distributed under safe hygienic conditions and good sanitary practices should be followed.Caution should also be exercised in consuming smoked fish displayed openly in the market places.