| dc.description.abstract | Edible termites and other have long been a delicacy in Zambia and the rest of Africa. Most of the consumed insects are wild harvested and traded in open air markets where they fetch a decent price. Due to their innate microbial content, natural habitat exposure, several handling points in the value chain, edible termites are prone to microbial contamination. This study aimed at identifying food safety and hygiene practices of edible termite traders and sought to enumerate total viable counts (TVC) and Enterobactericeae in open air market traded termites. A cross sectional descriptive design was used and 26 edible termite traders were purposively selected to assess food safety knowledge and common practices in Chisokone market in Kitwe
district Zambia. A Fishers exact test revealed significant relationships between, gender and knowledge on purpose for wearing gloves (p= 0.027); Age and knowledge on food poisoning resulted from eating food containing biological or chemical toxins (p=0.041), cross contamination as the transfer of harmful microorganism (p=0.013) and covering food as prevention for cross contamination (p=0.040); Education level and knowledge on control of bacterial growth by reducing temperature (p=002), and reasons for drying insects before storage (p=0.036). Other demographic variables had no significant relationship (p>0.05) with the knowledge items. Microbiological enumerations of samples collected from three sites of Serenje at three handling points (collection point, after transport and display) revealed higher loads of Total Viable Counts (TVC) and Enterobacteriaceae than those recommended for minced meat 5.7- 6.7 log cfu/g. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) of the effect of handling points and sites on microbial counts indicate that both handling points and sites had significant effect (p<0.05) on the microbial load of open air traded termites. A Tukey honest significant difference (HSD) showed that the largest increase in TVC was during the transportation period (p<0.05) even though a significant increase (p=0.027) was recorded during marketing. The largest increase in Enterobacteriaceae was during marketing (p<0.05). Transportation also showed a significant increase in Enterobacteriaceae (p= 0.028). The isolates identified in this study include Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Yeast spp. other than C. albicans and
Zygomycetes spp. Findings of this study can be used by public health authorities to formulate directed training programs on food safety and hygiene practices for edible termite traders. Traders can use the information to adopt practices that can help reduce the microbial loads at each handling points. | en_US |
