Assessment of Microbial Risks in Soil and Bulb Onions (Allium cepa) Grown in the Old Eldoret Municipal Dumpsite, Kenya

Urban agriculture plays a very significant role towards improving urban food security, employment creation and in supplementing household income. It is however associated with diverse negative environmental and health impacts. In Eldoret town, Uasin Gishu County, Kenya, the old municipal dumpsite has become an ideal site for growing vegetables and sewage sludge is applied to the vegetables without regards to risks of pathogenic organisms which are precursors to diseases like dysentery, typhoid, tetanus and cholera among others. This research was conducted to determine levels of total coliform, feacal coliform and presence E. coli in soil and bulb onions (Allium cepa) grown in the dumpsite. A total of 18 samples were analysed using multiple tube fermentation technique. Level of total coliform and feacal coliform in the soil were 3, 893 and 3, 068 MPN/100 ml respectively while in onions the levels were 10, 576 and 5, 861 MPN/100 ml respectively, these levels are above the recommended standards of WHO. It was therefore concluded that the vegetables are not good for human consumption since they have high levels of feacal coliform and hence pathogenic organisms which are likely to pose health complications.