Occurrence of Bacillus Cereus in Plantain Flour Sold at Ihiala L Local

ABSTRACT Bacillus cereus is a pathogen associated with diarrheal and food borne illness. However, in Africa, the prevalence of food borne infections attributable to this bacterium is difficult to establish accurately. This study was undertaken to evaluate the occurrence of Bacillus cereus in Plantain flour sold at Ihiala Local Government, Anambra State. In this study, 120 samples of different flours such as maize, cassava, yam, plantain, millet, and wheat were collected from different flour retailers within Anambra State. Microbiological analysis of the samples was carried out using spread plate technique on Nutrient Agar after boiling the samples for 20 minutes. The bacterial isolates were characterized based on cultural, morphology, and biochemical features. The colonies appeared creamy, flat, and irregular margin. The number of samples that yielded Bacillus was 24 while 96 samples were negative. The highest colony forming unit per gram (CFU/g) of the isolates was obtained from wheat flour, which was 4.2X103 CFU/g, followed by plantain (4.0X103 CFU/g ), yam flour (3.9X103 CFU/g ), cassava (3.6X103 CFU/g ), and millet (3.2X103 CFU/g) while the lowest CFU/g was recorded by maize (4.2X103 CFU/g). Therefore, maize flour and other flours investigated in this study contain Bacillus cereus, which could pose threat to the final consumers when consumed without sterilization.