Research Article Open Access Seiyaboh et al., Int J Pub Health Safe 2018, 3:2 Research Article Open Access Volume 3 • Issue 2 • 1000153 Int J Pub Health Safe, an open access journal International Journal of Public Health & Safety I n t e r n a t i o n a l J o u r n a l o f P u b li c H e a l t h a n d S a f e t y Keywords: Contaminants; Food; Microorganisms; Palm oil; Public Health Introduction Agriculture is the main stay of Nigerian economy before the discovery of crude oil [1]. During the period (before 1960), Nigeria is a major exporter of cocoa, rubber, oil palm. According to Ugbah and Nwawe [2], Nigeria is the leading exporter of palm oil. Probably due to the discovery of crude oil, there was neglect in the agricultural sector; hence Malaysia became the leading producer of palm oil between1962-1969 [2]. Due to intense efort from some Asian nations including Indonesia, Tailand and Malaysia, Nigeria position in global palm oil production was afected. As such Nigeria is the ffh largest producer of palm oil within the last 6 or more years [3-21]. Te processing oil palm to produce useful products such as palm oil and palm kernel oil is a major source of livelihood for several families in southern Nigeria where palm oil in produced in the wild and plantation [3,20-24]. In many areas in Nigeria, oil palm processing and marketing of its products is a major source of employments. Oil palm start bearing fruits afer 3-5 years of planting, with optimum yield being achieved afer about 10 year of planting depending on the variety. Te fruit of oil palm is light yellow to orange-red/orange in colour when ripe and it contain nut [3,8,25]. Palm oil is used as active ingredients in diets by several families. Tis could be probably due to its carotenoids [26] and vitamin content [22], and other minerals. In addition, palm oil has been severally reported to anti-cancer and antioxidant activities, cholesterol lowering efects [3,27]. In Nigeria, palm oil is predominantly produced by smallholders that accounts for about 80% of total domestic output [9,10,18,19]. Palm oil is produced by smallholder processers under poor hygienic status [1,3]. As such the essential and health benefts of palm oil could be altered by environmental contaminants such as microorganisms. Okechalu et al. [27], Izah and Ohimain [3] reported the microorganism in palm oil could lead to rancidity, acidity, bitterness, soapiness and other of favours. Microorganisms are known to cause deterioration of food products which may lead pathological efects when the pathogenic ones are ingested. During cooking palm oil is subjected to varying form of heat efects, but some people still consumes it raw [1,3,27,28]. When they are consumed raw, it could transfer the microbial contaminants to human. Depending on the species of microbes, it could cause disease conditions especially in immune-compromised individuals [3]. Several studies have been carried out with regard to the microbial quality of palm oil in Nigeria. Some of these studies were carried out in some markets in Jos metropolis, Plateau state [27], smallholder processing mills in Elele, Rivers state [28], semi-mechanized mill in Bayelsa state [17], major markets of Yenagoa metropolis, Bayelsa state [29]. Terefore, this study aimed at assessing the microbial quality of palm oil sold in Amassoma, Bayelsa state, Nigeria. Materials and Methods Study area Amassoma is the host communities of Niger Delta University in Bayelsa state, Nigeria. Te region lies in the sedimentary basin and fshing is a major occupation of the indigene of the area. Amassoma has a link with river Nun. Te area is characterized by river fooding that usually occur around September and October every year and afecting many resident close to the river bank. Te population of the area have increased probably due to the presence of higher institution of learning. Te climatic condition with regard to temperature and relative humidity is similar to other region of the Niger Delta that has been widely described by authors [30-34]. *Corresponding author: Sylvester Chibueze Izah, Department of Biological Sciences, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria, Tel: +2347030192466; E-mail: chivestizah@gmail.com Received March 16, 2018; Accepted March 27, 2018; Published April 02, 2018 Citation: Seiyaboh EI, Kigigha LT, Alagoa CT, Izah SC (2018) Microbial Quality of Palm Oil Sold in Amassoma, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Int J Pub Health Safe 3: 153. Copyright: © 2018 Seiyaboh EI, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Palm oil is an active ingredient in diets in many families in Nigeria. Palm oil production is majorly carried out by smallholder processors that use local equipment for processing. This study evaluated the microbial quality of palm oil sold in Amassoma, Bayelsa state, Nigeria. Triplicate samples of palm oil were purchased from six palm oil retailers in Amassoma. Microbiological techniques were applied in the analysis. Results revealed that the total heterotrophic bacteria and total fungi ranged from 0.68-14.40 × 10 4 cfu/ml and 1.23-12.60 × 10 2 cfu/ml, respectively. There were signifcant differences (P<0.05) in the total heterotrophic bacteria and total fungi population in most of the locations. The microbial isolates that were identifed included Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Micrococcus species (bacteria), and Aspergillus niger, Aspergililus favus, Rhizopus, Mucor and Penicillium species (fungi). The similarity interaction between the various locations with respect to microbial diversity (bacteria and fungi) ranged from 50.00-92.31%. The microbial interactions of the samples from the different locations were above the similarity critical level of signifcance=50%. The mean microbial density were within the limits for palm oil used as food, while the diversity of microbial species in the palm oil samples exceeded the specifed limit by Nigerian Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC). As such, there is the need for improved handling processes of palm oil by both processors and retailers/marketers. Microbial Quality of Palm Oil Sold in Amassoma, Bayelsa State, Nigeria Seiyaboh EI, Kigigha LT, Alagoa CT and Izah SC * Department of Biological Sciences, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria