CHEMICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF ‘LEGO’-A LOCALLY PRODUCED FLAVOURED DRINKS

The study assessed the chemical and microbial safety of street vended local drink ‘Lego’ collected from three different vendors in Abeokuta metropolis. A control sample was prepared in the laboratory and nine samples of three different flavours (orange, pineapple and blackcurrant) were collected.  Total Vibrio count, total faecal Coliform and total staphylococcus count were estimated in all the samples. Total Vibrio cholera is completely absent while Five samples were found to harbour total staphylococci counts of bacteria within the range of 0.7-1.5x104cfu/ml. All the samples exhibited the presence of Coliform counts within the range of 1.0-9.5x104cfu/ml and Staphylococcus aurous, Micrococcus acidophilus and Klebsiella aerogenes species were bacteria isolated from the samples collected. Heavy metals were also estimated in all the collected samples. Chromium and lead were absent but cadmium was present and is within 0.01-0.025mg/g. The lowest is from orange flavour at camp with 0.01 mg/g while the highest is from Lafenwa in pineapple flavour with 0.025mg/g. Total titratable acidity ranges from 0.175 – 0.219 and the pH ranges from 4.21±0.14 and 5.40±0.00. Hence, these implies that Lego flavoured drink is bacteriologically and chemically unsafe for consumption.