Microbiological Analysis of Zobo Drink Preserved with Scent Leaves (Ocimum gratissimum) | South Asia

The goal of this study was to examine the microbiological quality of a zobo drink that had been kept with fragrance leaves.

Methods: Standard microbiological techniques were used to prepare and test the zobo drink and fragrance leaves.

From zobo drink preserved with fragrance leaves samples, twenty-three (23) bacteria species and fourteen (14) fungal species were found. Enterobacter spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus spp., and Micrococcus spp. are the most common bacteria, while Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus spp., and Penicillium spp. are the most common fungi. The bacterial and fungal counts decreased as the days increased with day 1 having the highest bacterial and fungal counts at 1.41x105 (cfu/ml) and 3.1x104 (cfu/ml) respectively. The control samples were generally higher than the counts recorded on the bacterial and fungal counts. Zobo + scent leaves (ZSC) recorded the highest bacterial count at 1.41x105 (cfu/ml), while the least was recorded for (ZSA) at 1.01x106 (cfu/ml). Zobo + Scent (ZSC) recorded the highest fungal counts at 3.1x104 (cfu/ml), while the least was recorded for ZSA at 1.2x105 (cfu/ml). From this study, Bacillus spp and Staphylococcus aureus were the most frequently occurring bacterial isolates with a high percentage occurrence of 8(21.6%) and 6(16.2%), while Penicillium spp was the most frequently occurring fungal isolate.

Conclusion: The interaction of these bacteria with meals like commercial zobo drinks could be due to a lack of hygiene or sanitary conditions. The microbiological counts revealed that among the zobo drink preserved with smell leaves samples, zobo + scent leaves (ZSC) is the most microbially predisposed product, having the highest microbial counts. As a result, the results revealed that the samples of zobo drink were contaminated with significant quantities of dangerous germs both directly and indirectly, but that this can be decreased by adding fragrance leaves as a preservative.

Please see the link :- https://www.journalsajrm.com/index.php/SAJRM/article/view/30187