Bacterial contaminants reducing quality of food drinks: A case study of Zobo drink (a non-alcoholic beverage from Hibiscus sabdariffa) sold in Abakaliki metropolis, Ebonyi state, Nigeria

Non-alcoholic beverages, Zobo drink important among the dietary pattern of people in the northern and southern part of Nigeria were analyzed. Four different locations where ready-to-drink zobo is sold within Abakaliki were randomly selected. Three samples of ready-to-drink zobo were collected each from the following locations: Presco market, international market, kpirikpiri market and Spera-in-deo. The total aerobic and coliform bacterial counts of Zobo drinks sold at different locations within Abakaliki ranges from 0.9 x 10 cfu/ml (the lowest) to 0.3 xl0⁵ cfu/ml (the highest) count for the total coliform count and 0.8 x 10⁸ (the lowest) to 5.8 x 10⁸ (the highest) for the Aerobic bacteria Count. Staphyloccus spp was isolated from all the twelve samples (100 %), Escherichia coli was isolated from Eight samples (75 %), Pseudomonas species from Nine samples (83.33 %), Klebsiella pneumoniae (75.00 %) and Shigella sp with the least occurrence (33.33 %). All the bacteria isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, gentamycin and chloramphenicol except Pseudomonas aeruginosa with the least sensitivity to chloramphenicol (43.8 %), Klebsiella pneumonia and Staphylococcus aureus were resistant to Ampicillin while Pseudomonas aeruginosa was resistant to erythromycin. None of the bacteria isolates was resistant to all the antibiotics; however, they exhibited high level of resistance against erythromycin, ampicillin and sulphamethazole with the least resistance percentage of 92.5 %, 57.5 % and 81.25 % respectively. It is important to monitor food items before releasing to the consumers to avoid food related illness.