Thesis Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the microbial status of fresh and processed cane rat along the unit operation in some selected markets in Benin City, Nigeria. Fresh cane rats were obtained from the different markets which are from the three local government areas that is, Oredo, Egor and Ikpoba-Okha which make up Benin City, while the Control cane rat was processed in the Faculty of Agriculture laboratory. Direct plate method was done by taking swabs with a sterile swab stick at different points during the processing line was used for the microbial evaluation to determine the total bacteria and fungi (mould) count of the various cane rat samples. The result shows the total bacteria population from the various markets as follows Control (191cfu/g), New Benin (199cfu/g), Uwa (192cfu/g) and Abico (220cfu/g). While the total fungal count, was in New Benin (41cfu/g). There was however, no fungal recorded for samples from other markets and the Control.

The mean microbial population along the processing line shows that the whole unprocessed cane rat has the highest microbial count of 60.75cfu/g, followed by after washing 59.50cfu/g, and after evisceration 47.00cfu/g and after scalding 33.25cfu/g. The analysis of variance showed that there was no significant difference (P<0.05) between the samples from various markets in terms of microbial load. Two bacteria were isolated, identified and characterized. They are staphylococcus albus and Streptococcus specie while one fungal organism Aspergillus specie was identified in the cause of the study. There was however significant difference (P<0.05) in the microbial population along the

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