ABSTRACT
The results obtained from this research work shows that land snails sold in Ekpoma market contains some pathogenic microorganisms. A total of fifty samples were bought from 10 different local sellers (five snail samples each) in Ekpoma old market and the new market. The total viable count of bacteria ranged from 2.2 x 108 cfu/g - 8.2 x 108 cfu/g. The lowest was recorded in sample I having a total bacteria count of 2.2 x 108 cfu/g and the highest count was observed in sample D obtained from the old market (close to a refuge dump) with a corresponding count of 8.2 x 108 cfu/g. The least fungal count was 8.0 x 106 cfu/g of snail sample I obtained from the new market (in a shade) while the highest count was obtained from sample D in the old market (close to a refuge dump) with a total fungal count of 1.4 x 107 cfu/g. The organisms isolated were Lactobacillus spp, Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella spp., Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum, Aspergillus terrus. Microbiological assessment of snail in this study showed that the snail samples harbour quite a number of highly pathogenic bacteria of potential public health hazard to the dependants as protein source. There is therefore the need to set a thermal standard and time of cooking that would be sufficient for complete inactivation of pathogens while the nutritive contents would remain unaffected.
Contents
COVER PAGE ii
CERTIFICATION iii
DEDICATION iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
TABLE OF CONTENTS……...…………………………………………….…vi
ABSTRACT viii
CHAPTER ONE 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW 1
1.1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW 3
1.3 THE GIANT EAST AFRICAN SNAIL (Achatina fulica) 5
1.4 ECOLOGY 7
1.5 FEEDS 8
1.6 NUTRITIONAL COMPONENT OF SNAIL 9
1.7 AIMS 10
1.8 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY 10
CHAPTER TWO 11
2.0 MATERIALS AND METHODS 11
2.1 AREA OF STUDY 11
2.2 SAMPLE SIZE AND COLLECTION 11
2.3 MEDIA USED 11
2.4 REAGENT USED 12
2.5 STERILIZATION OF MATERIALS 12
2.6 MICROBIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS 13
2.6.1 WET PREPARATION 13
2.6.2 TOTAL VIABLE COUNT 13
2.6.3 IDENTIFICATION TECHNIQUES 14
2.6.4 GRAM STAINING 14
2.7 BIOCHEMICAL TEST 15
2.7.1 CATALASE TEST 15
2.7.2 COAGULASE TEST 16
2.7.2.1 SLIDE TEST 16
2.7.2.2 TUBE TEST 16
2.7.3 OXIDASE TEST 17
2.7.3 INDOLE TEST 17
2.7.4 SUGAR FERMENTATION TEST 18
CHAPTER THREE 19
3.0 RESULTS 19
CHAPTER FOUR 26
4.0 DISCUSSION 26
4.1 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 29
REFERENCES 30