Microbiological Quality and Antimicrobial Resistance Profile of Bacterial Isolates from Locally and Industrially Processed Noni (Morinda citrifolia) Drinks Sold in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Public health is seriously threatened by the emergence of antibiotic resistance, especially in food products. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Microbiological Quality and Antimicrobial Resistance Profile of Bacterial Isolates from locally and Industrially Processed NONI (Morinda citrifolia) Drinks Sold in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Noni beverages (samples) were bought from three distinct locations in Rivers State while the fruits were locally fermented into noni beverages.  Conventional microbiological methods were employed to identify the bacterial isolates, and the disc diffusion method was employed to assess the antibiotics susceptibility.  Characterization of the bacterial isolates was further done using molecular techniques. The total heterotrophic bacteria in the beverages ranged from 3.5±0.7 to 5.9±0.3×104 cfu/ml. The total coliform counts ranged from 1.7±1.9 to 3.8±1.2×104 CFU/ml and faecal coliform count in all the samples was zero (0). Data showed that the locally produced noni sample had the highest bacterial counts (1.6×103 cfu/ml) while the lowest count was observed in samples from location B (1.50×102 cfu/ml). The presence of multiple bacterial species, including Flavobacterium spp. (16.7%), Enterobacter spp. (25%), Serratia spp. (25%), Micrococcus spp. (8.3%) and Bacillus spp. (25%) was indicated by the results. All the isolates (100%) were resistant to commonly used antibiotics such as cefuroxime, cefotaxime, cefixime and meropenem, gentamycin, vancomycin, with 66.7% being resistant to ampiclox. Ampicillin resistance gene (Amp C gene) was detected in Serratia marcescens AB061685.1 and Bacillus subtilis AB192294.2. These findings have shown that Noni beverages are prone to bacterial contamination with serious public health concerns and thus   highlighted the significance of strict quality control measures in the production and sale of Noni drinks, to check the risk of antimicrobial resistance transmission through food consumption.