Isolation of Staphylococcus aureus in Zobo Drink Sold within Terminus Market in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

Introduction: Zobo drink is a red non-alcoholic local beverage made from different varieties of dried petals of Roselle calyx through aqueous extraction. It is rich in protein, calcium iron and other antioxidants. The increase in Religious and health campaign against alcoholic beverages in Nigeria has made Zobo drink an alternative to imported red wine. But unfortunately, this drink is sometimes contaminated by microbes which can cause varying number of infections if left untreated.

Materials and Methods: This research was therefore carried out to determine the contamination rate of Staphylococcus aureus in Zobo drink sold within Terminus market of Jos. A total of 160 samples was collected, forty samples from each area.

Results: Of the 160 samples, 7 Zobo samples were positive for Staphylococcus aureus with overall prevalence of 4.4%. One sample was positive in Ahamadu Bello area 1(2.5%), 2(5.0%) were positive in Terminus roundabout, only 1(2.5%) sample was positive in Railway area while 3(7.5%) samples inside the market were positive. The 7 positive samples were subjected to catalase and coagulase tests and all the 7 were positive for both tests suggesting that the organisms were Staphylococcus aureus.

Conclusion: The isolation of Stapylococcus aureus from Zobo drink is a health concern, this therefore stresses the urgent need for public enlightenment campaigns by the appropriate authorities to educate the masses on the danger of consuming contaminated Zobo as well as the need to improve hygienic condition during production. The results obtained from this study could be used to raise awareness about the importance of food safety also provide useful information for regulatory agencies to enforce food safety standards.