Gender Consumption, Microbial Profile and Potential Risk of Hot Beverages of Coffee, Tea, Milk or Cocoa Sold by Street Vendors in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract

Street hot beverages are increasingly consumed in Côte d’Ivoire. However, there is little data on consumption and contaminants involved in the preparation of these beverages. Thus, this study aimed to contribute to the sanitary quality of hot beverages sold in street. The study assesses the motivation of hot beverages gender consumption and the profile of some contaminants of ready-to-drink hot beverages made of tea, coffee, milk or cocoa from street vendors. Hot beverage consumers were interviewed via a questionnaire and ready-to-drink hot beverages were collected and analyzed biochemically and microbiologically with conventional methods. Thus, 431 samples of these beverages were aseptically collected from five locations of Abidjan city. The survey was conducted among 1448 hot beverage consumers including 1149 males (80%) and 289 females (20%). The results showed that males (38.7%) consumed more coffee and females (45.7%) consumed more tea. Females (27.3%) consumed hot beverages for pleasure while males (27.4%) consumed them as stimulants. Hot beverages consumers reported symptoms of diarrhea, nausea, dizziness and hand tremors which could link to beverage consumption. The results of the investigation and the enumeration of microbial showed risks associated with the methods of preparing beverages with ingredients. Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Enterobacteria, yeasts and molds strains were enumerated from beverage samples. The tea with its ingredients (sugar, lemon or mint) were the most contaminated sample and coffee was least contaminated. The results of the survey showed a potential health risk linked to preparation methods, the type of beverages mainly tea with ingredients.