Levels of microbial contamination in non-alcoholic beverages from selected eastern Ethiopian towns markets

Industrial commercial non-alcoholic beverages are manufactured and sometimes transported to consumers at a distance. This study was aimed to estimate the load and isolate selected microbial from non-alcoholic beverages. Using cross-sectional study, a total of 774 products were randomly sampled and examined for aerobic plate count (APC), Enterobacteriaceae count (EBC), total coliform count (TCC) and total yeast and mold counts (TMYC) and for selected contaminate microbial genera. An overall mean ± SD of 3.56-± 0.32 log CFU/ml APC, 3.44 ± 0.16 log CFU/ml EBC, 3.40 ± 0.06 log CFU/ml TCC and 3.42± 0.12 log CFU/ml TMYC were observed in the products. APC ranged 3.42 -3.71 log CFU/ml by product type, 3.44–3.99 log CFU/ml by packaging material, 3.41–3.70 log CFU/ml by public supply locations, 3.43–4.12 log CFU/ml by countries of product origin. EBC was 3.48 log CFU/ml in juices. Its count was 3.40–3.69 log CFU/ml by packaging material, 3.40–3.52 log CFU/ml by public supply locations, 3.40–3.73 log CFU/ml by countries of product origin. Counts of 3.40 log CFU/ml TCC was observed in total where it was almost similar within all studied variables. Relatively high (3.47±0.23 log CFU/ml) TYMC were observed in products from street. From the total samples, the finding reveled presence of considerable APC, EBC, TCC and TYMC with 13 different categories of microbial genera consisting of Bacillus (4.8%), Streptococcus (2.2%), Enterobacter (1.8%), Clostridia (1.4%), Actinomycetes (1.2%), Yeast (1.0%), Coranybacters (0.8%), Nesseria (0.8%), Micrococcus (0.6%), Campylobacters (0.3%), Listeria (0.3%), Molds (0.1%) and unidentified microbes (1.4%) observed. Samples of juice were positive for all of the isolated microbial. High number of samples of juice (9.4%) were positive for Bacillus than other product type. Some microbial load and genera found in the products could have public health risk and also deteriorate product shelf life. Thus, quality control during production, transportation, handling and public supply location as well as public awareness creation could reduce risk.