Background: Khoa, a heat-desiccated milk product widely used as a base ingredient for the
preparation of sweets in India, can be a major vehicle for the transmission of notorious foodborne
pathogens. Objective: To assess the microbial contamination of khoa. Materials and
methods: Twenty-six khoa samples, collected from different sweet shops in and around
Kolkata, were tested for total plate counts (TPCs), TPC and confirmation of Staphylococcus
aureus, coliform and fecal coliform (Escherichia coli) counts, and various other potential
food-borne pathogens, besides studying the multi-drug resistance (MDR)-pattern of the E.
coli strains isolated. Results and Discussion: TPCs ranged from 6.954 to 8.477 log colonyforming
unit (cfu) g-1, whereas TPCs of Staphylococcus spp. ranged from 6.698 to 8.431 log
cfu g-1. Nine (34.61%) of the samples harbored coagulase-positive S. aureus. The presence of
coliforms was detected in all (100%) samples, with the average count being 135.76 Most
Probable Number (MPN) g-1. The presence of Escherichia coli was confirmed in twenty-two (84.61%) of them. S. aureus, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Vibrio cholerae and V.
parahaemolyticus were detected in fourteen (53.84%), four (15.38%), eleven (42.30%), five
(19.23%) and one (3.84%) of the samples respectively. Alarmingly, majority of the E. coli
isolates displayed resistances to ampicillin (90.90%) and tetracycline (50%), thus turning out
to be MDR. Conclusion: An apparent relationship between high TPCs, detection of
coliforms, fecal coliforms and MDR-E. coli isolates, and the presence of notorious foodborne
pathogens revealed severe microbial contamination of khoa produced and sold
unhygienically from this part of the country.
Keywords: Coliform and fecal coliform counts, food-borne pathogens, khoa, microbial
contamination, multi-drug resistance, TPCs
Publication date: 01/08/2020
https://ijbpas.com/pdf/2020/September/MS_IJBPAS_2020_5171.pdf
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https://doi.org/10.31032/IJBPAS/2020/9.9.5171
