CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION

The microbiological quality of food indicates the number of contaminants it has, a high level of contamination indicates the low quality of food. Storage and its handling more likely to transmit diseases (Oranusi et al., 2013). Bacteria count in prepared food and water is a key factor in assessing the quality and safety of food. It also reveals the level f hygiene adopted by the food handlers in the course of preparation of such foods. Foods and water in particular have been described as vehicles for the transmission of microbial disease.

Ready-to-eat foods can be described as foods and beverages that can be bought directly from street vendors or hawkers and are consumed at the point of sale or at a later time without further processing. It could be raw or cooked, hot or chilled, and can be consumed without further treatment(Tsang,2002) there are so many examples of ready-to-eat food which includes meat pie, burger, fried chicken/meat, milk, and milk products, porridge beans, rice, moi-moi(beans pudding), assorted soups, okpa, egg rolls, bakery products, fruits e.t.c. while it is expected that the nutritional needs of the consumers should be met via the consumption of the street food, it is also necessary to ensure its safety from contaminants and microorganisms.

Safe food is a basic human right despite the fact that many foods are frequently contaminated with naturally occurring pathogenic a microorganism which cannot be detected organoleptically (seen, smelled or tasted)but can cause diseases including death especially through the the way they are conserved during exposition for sales provided conditions for that microorganism to grow and reach considerable levels of contamination (W.H.O., 2000).

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