A SURVEY STUDY TO ISOLATE SOME PATHOGENIC BACTERIA FOR COOKED RICE AT BAGHDAD CITY

Abstract

The current study was designed to assess the microbial safety status of rice dishes offered for sale at various local and branded restaurants. Purposely, 30 samples of rice dishes were collected from 16 local and 14 branded restaurants of Baghdad city for two seasons, summer and winter. All the collected samples were subjected to microbiological examination to determine the prevalence and comparative enumeration of: total count, Bacillus cereus, coliform and forming spores in rice. Results pertaining to the enumeration of: total count, Bacillus cereus, coliform and spores forming bacteria exhibited highest count Logarithmic: for summer from collected from:  branded restaurants F.S (5.81), and local restaurants coliform (7.82). And winter from collected from:  branded restaurants T.C (7.81), and local restaurants coliform (4.44). Highest count observed Bacillus cereus in branded restaurants, and coliform in local restaurants. Further, the results of current study revealed that 42% of rice samples collected from local restaurants and 58% from branded restaurants have unsatisfactory safety status for B. cereus. 38% of rice samples collected from local restaurants and 62% from branded restaurants have unsatisfactory safety status for forming spores. Similarly, for coliform 63 and 42% samples were found unsatisfactory from local and branded restaurants, respectively.