EVALUATION OF THE HEALTH QUALITY OF PLANTAIN BANANA CHIPS SOLD IN COCODY (ABIDJAN, COTE DIVOIRE): CASE OF COLIFORMS AND AEROBIC MESOPHILIC GERMS

In Abidjan, the economic capital of Cote dIvoire, chips of plantain banana are widely consumed foods. They are generally products of satisfactory quality regarding their cooking temperature in oil (200°C). However, the lack of hygiene during their packaging and display on roadsides can lead to a risk of bacterial contamination that may cause food poisoning. For contributing to the microbiological quality of these chips and guarantying the health of consumers, a search for faecal germs of contamination was carried out on these foods. The study was performed on 30 samples of plantain chips, including 15 ripe and 15 unripe, from 15 sellers randomly chosen in theCocody area. Microbiological standards were used to count the total flora, total coliforms, faecal coliforms and Escherichia coli likely to be present in these samples. The pH, moisture content and dry matter content also were measured. The experimentsrevealeda very satisfactory microbiological quality for all the samples of chips except 2 samples of unripe chips related to their very high load of faecal coliforms. The high dry matter rate (97.47 – 97.4%), slight acid pH (5.94 – 5.63) and low acidity rate (0.47 – 0.50 mEq/100g) of these samples facilitated contamination by faecal coliforms following a lack of hygiene of the saleswoman and her working environment. These results encourage the consumption of ripe chips as well as compliance with hygiene measures for reducing the exposure risk to food poisoning.