ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF BACTERIOLOGICAL CONSTITUENTS OF SOME LEAFY VEGETABLES SOLD IN RURAL MARKETS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Vegetables are a ubiquitous part of everyday meals in Nigeria and have been widely recognized as an essential source of nutrients and dietary fiber for proper health development and wellbeing. The demand for vegetables has increased considerably in recent years. However, research has linked vegetable intake with various pathogenic bacteria that are of public health concern. The purpose of the current study was to isolate and identify the bacterial composition of bitter leaf, fluted pumpkin, and scent leaf commonly sold at various markets in Anambra State. These bacteria were examined with the standard microbiological methods. The serial dilution technique was applied. The result revealed that the samples collected from different sellers containedvarious microbial loads. Bitter leaf contained a higher load of bacteria, while the pumpkin leaf contained a moderate load of bacteria. The lowest plate count was recorded for the scent leaf. The bacteria isolated from the samples were Bacillus, Pseudomonas species, Erwinia spp, and Streptococcus. Thus, it is concluded that the vegetables sold in the rural markets contain a massive number of bacteria above the world health organization recommendation. Indeed, there should be proper washing of vegetables with clean water and disinfecting the bacteria with sodium chloride to safeguard the health of the final consumer.