World Food Science and Technology Congress
Athens, Greece
Iddrisu Bukari
Public Health Specialist, Ghana
Title: Microbial Contamination of Drinking sachet Water and Environmental Hygiene Practices of Sachet Water Producers in the Volta Region of Ghana
Biography
Biography: Iddrisu Bukari
Abstract
Providing safe drinking water to the majority of the world’s population, especially those in developing countries, is a major problem. Approximately a billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Water and food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, and protozoa cause infectious diarrhoea. Majority of the population of developing countries including Ghana have sorted to sachet water as a drinking, however, no laboratory study has been carried out to establish the potability and possible microbial contamination of the sachet water.
Methods: The study was an experimental and purposive study conducted to establish the extent of microbial contamination in drinking sachet water and the environmental hygiene practices of the sachet water producers in the Volta Region of Ghana, to establish the contamination in drinking sachet water with microbes such as E. coli, faecal coliforms, enterococcus spp., pseudomonas spp., and heterotrophic bacteria using the Idexx defined substrate technology method.
Results: The key findings ascertained were; E. coli 12%, Total coliforms 19%, enterococcus species 25%, Pseudomonas aeruginosa 18.5%, HPC 27.9% all the sachet samples analyzed. On the environmental hygiene practices, 34% of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) respondents indicated that improper and indiscriminate disposal of waste could lead to the breeding of germ and cause diseases and water contamination. Sixty seven percent of the CEOs who responded said they do not segregate the waste in their companies and only 8.3% of CEO respondents adhere to aseptic procedures.
Conclusion: CEO respondents seemed to have adequate knowledge of the basic properties of water. The majority of 83% of the employee respondents together with 71% of the CEO respondents were able to distinction between good quality water and poor one. It was found that 58% of CEO respondents and 74% of Employee respondents indicated that direct sunlight andhigh temperatures could affect sachet water quality.