African Journal of Microbiology Research Vol. 5(11), pp. 1277-1284, 4 June, 2011 Available online http://www.academicjournals.org/ajmr DOI: 10.5897/AJMR11.025 ISSN 1996-0808 ©2011 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Prevalence and antibiotics susceptibility patterns of some bacterial isolates from a street vended fruit product Kalsoom Farzana 1 *, Muhammad Rouf Akram 1 and Seema Mahmood 2 1 Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, P.C. 60800, Pakistan. 2 Institute of Pure and Applied Biology, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, P.C. 60800, Pakistan. Accepted 1 March, 2011 The study is aimed to evaluate the food safety status of a street vended fruit product locally known as fruit chat. Sample collection was carried out from four groups of vendors which were discriminated based on their mobility, vending practice and storage facility. The extent of prevalence for Enterobacter species, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella species, Salmonella species, Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis was assessed in fruit chat samples. Bacterial isolates were identified through biochemical characterization. The degree of susceptibility of these isolates was evaluated against six different antibiotics that is, amikacin, ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, ceftriaxone and co-trimoxazol using disc diffusion method. Results indicated a higher (10 5 to 10 10 CFU/g) total plate count (TPC) and total coliforms count (TCC) ranged from 10 4 to 10 9 CFU /g in samples collected from mobile vendors without covering. Mobility of vendors and, use of no covering, resulted in significant (P≤0.05) contamination. However, fruit chat samples collected from stationary vendors with refrigeration facilities exhibited considerably lower bacterial count. The study clearly indicated that consumption of fruit chats from street vendors can be a potential risk for food borne outbreaks because of their contamination level by pathogenic bacteria. Bacterial species had shown variable susceptibility and resistance patterns in response to different antibiotics used in the study. However, all bacterial species had shown greater sensitivity for amikacin, whereas, bacterial strains appeared to develop resistance against other commonly used antibiotics. The mounting resistance against antibiotics is currently one of the foremost challenges to treat food borne infections. Therefore, both preventative and effective curative measures should be adopted. Firstly, the safety status of street vended food products can be enhanced by improving hygienic conditions during the preparation of food stuff. Secondly, the use of effective antibiotics will be of significant importance to cure food borne infections as well as to avoid growing resistance in pathogenic bacteria. Key words: Safety status, street vended fruit product, bacterial prevalence, antibiotics susceptibility. INTRODUCTION In developing countries like Pakistan, street vending of food items is very common because of their convenient availability and low cost. Thus, consumption of such food products has increased considerably and has become an important diet for a large number of populations. Hence, millions of people in the country consume a wide variety of street vended food items. Though, street vending *Corresponding author. E-mail: kalsoom_farzana@hotmail.com Tel: 0092-61-9210071-74 Ext. 2612. Fax: 0092-61-9210098. provides employment opportunities to local population especially in situations where initial investment is low. Moreover, men and women involved in street vending do not require particular skills and education (WHO, 2010). Food poisoning caused by various food items that are sold or served at public places have been well reported (Latham, 1997; Muleta and Ashenafi, 2001). Several such incidents from both developing and developed countries have been described. For example, in Senegal, more than 200 cases of food poisoning were recorded and street vended dairy products were incriminated (Dawson and Canet, 1991). Likewise, Staphylococcus