Bacteriological profile and holding temperatures of street-vended foods from Addis Ababa

A total of 150 samples of street foods comprising 30 each of 'sambussa', 'macaroni', 'lentil sandwich', 'kitfo' (raw minced meat) and 'egg sandwich' were examined for the relation between their holding temperatures and bacteriological profile. Over 90% of the samples were stored within a temperature range of 15.5-34.5 degrees C. At this holding temperature counts of coliforms and members of the Enterobacteriaceae were below detectable levels in 'sambussa' samples. In 'macaroni', 'lentil sandwich', 'kitfo' and 'egg sandwich' these counts were higher than 10(6) cfu g(-1) in most cases. Over 70% of the street food samples had aerobic mesophilic counts higher than 10(7) cfu g(-1). Of the total of 1552 bacterial strains isolated from the different food samples, Bacillus spp. (29.1%), staphylococci (22.8%) and micrococci (15.4%) were among the dominant groups. Members of the family Enterobacteriaceae (14.5%) were also frequently encountered.