Detection and isolation of bacteria from the lid of some selected canned drinks from retail shops sold at plateau state polytechnic Barkin Ladi Heipang campus

Beverages in aluminium cans are widely available, and for convenience, drinks are often consumed directly from the orifice of the can. Cans are exposed to various environments during production, storage, transportation and handling at retail shops during which the lid may be contaminated with microorganisms. This study was aimed at isolating and identifying bacteria from the surfaces of canned drinks offered for sale on the main campus of Plateau State Polytechnic Barkin Ladi. For this purpose, a total of fifty canned drinks were randomly purchased from five different kiosks/ shops for laboratory investigations. Results of analyses indicated that all the canned drinks examined were contaminated with various microorganisms representing a 100% contamination rate. The highest bacterial count was recorded in shops 5 and 9 where the cells were too numerous to be counted (TNC) and were closely followed by shop 8 which had 162 colony-forming units of bacterial count on the colony counter. The shop with the least bacterial count was shop no 10 which had 47 bacterial counts per 100 ml. The biochemical test indicated the presence of Escherichia coli, Streptococcus spp, Bacillus spp and Staphylococcus aureus on the surfaces of the cans. These organisms are of significant public health risk once ingested from any contaminated surface. It is therefore recommended that proper cleaning of surfaces of canned drinks should be done before consumption to safeguard the health of consumers.