2018, VOL. 1, NO. 1, 13-21 13 REGULAR ARTICLE BACTERIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF STREET FOODS VENDED IN BUKAVU CITY: POTENTIAL HEALTH RISKS TO CONSUMERS OF SOUTH KIVU PROVINCE, EASTERN D.R. CONGO Justin Ombeni B. J. *1, 5 , Lilly Nabintu Peru 2 , Theodore Munyuli B. M. 1, 3 , Antoine Lwango 4 , Tresor Mwangi 5 , Fideline Nabintu 1 , Espoir Izuba 1 , Marcellin Betu 1 Address (es): Eng.,Nut. Justin Ombeni, 1 Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Bukavu Institute of Higher Education in Medical Techniques, ISTM/Bukavu, P.O Box. 3036/Bukavu, South Kivu province, Eastern DR Congo. 2 Department of Public Health, Bukavu Institute of Higher Education in Medical Techniques, ISTM/Bukavu, South Kivu province, eastern DR Congo. 3 Departments of Agriculture, Biology and Environment, National Center for Research in Natural Sciences, CRSN-Lwiro, D.S., Bukavu, South-Kivu Province, Eastern DR Congo. 4 Department of Laboratory Techniques, Bukavu Institute of Higher Education in Medical Techniques, ISTM/Bukavu, South Kivu province, eastern DR Congo. 5 Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, Department of Food Science and Technology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, JKUAT, Nairobi, Kenya. *Corresponding author: justinombeni12@gmail.com ABSTRACT Foods vended in roadsides of our African cities is a reality and constitute a major problem of public health starting the multiplicity and diversity of microbial flora that they carry. To address these challenges, this study was performed to control the hygienic quality of street foods vended in urban zones of Bukavu city in South Kivu province, DR Congo and assess the potential health risks to consumers. This prospective study was conducted among street vending food from vendors in three urban zone of Bukavu city. A total of 80 food samples compressing boiled meat (16), roast fish (18), sausages (21), fresh milk (13) and loaf (12) from 320 vendors were purchased and analyzed. Standard microbiological methods NF ISO 7218: 1996 were used for isolation, enumeration and identification of bacteria. Investigations into the point of sale and microbiological test results revealed the presence of a perpetual contamination risk by vendor categories. All street food samples tested are contaminated to varying degrees by bacteria, including: FMAT, total coliforms with Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus sp. with Negative Staphylococci Coagulase and Staphylococcus aureus and salmonella with species Salmonella enterica, represent a great risk of street food poisoning for over 350 consumers per month. The mean bacterial counts in these foods expressed to CFU/10g of each food collected exceed the standards set by the Codex Alimentarius, significant and highly statistically significant according different categories of vendors and sampling sites (p<0.0001). Samples collected from vendors in Kadutu urban zone (the most popular and unhealthy in the city) are more contaminated. Dishes that are not subjected to heating during preparation have the highest microbial load. This is the case of fresh milk where the total mesophilic flora is of order of 10 6 CFU/10g. This is also the case of street food which, after cooking are exposed for a long time at room temperature: boiled meat and sausages contain an uncountable amount of bacteria. Total coliforms, and Salmonella sp. are more loaded in boiled meat, fresh milk and sausages. Many Staphylococcus sp. are in the loaf. Much (77%) contaminated dishes are from ambulant vendors than other distributors, followed by semi-stationary and stationary vendors respectively (p<0.001). Contamination of street food in Bukavu is multifactorial and hygiene vendors contribute significantly to contamination factor, including unhygienic managers, dirty environment and poor water quality. Hence, sustainable development of communities through good hygiene practices in street foods handling. The government should thus strengthen health checks at street food and ensure their hygienic quality before consumption by the population in order to prevent these diseases and improve health of consumers. Keywords: street foods, bacteriological quality, consumers health risk, Bukavu city INTRODUCTION Street foods are foods and beverages ready to eat prepared and/or sold by ambulant or stationary vendors, especially in streets and other similar places. They are an important part of the daily urban food consumption of million consumers in low or middle income (FAO, 1989; OIT, 1972). For many people with limited resources, street food is often the cheapest and most accessible to get a meal nutritionally balanced out of the house (FAO, 1997; 2007; 2009). According to some researchers, this phenomenon affects all layers of the large cities of black African population: students, civil servants, married, single, etc. easy to eat and easily outside the home and relatively low cost (Canet and Ndiaye, 1996; Chauliac et al., 1998; Barro and Traore, 2002). But unfortunately these foods undergo in the process of manufacturing and selling unhygienic operations resulting mostly to microbial contamination and/or toxigenic (Manzilima, 2011; Kama, 2014; Baba-Moussa et al., 2012). Indeed, preparing and selling food on the streets can cause big problems for consumer health. Various studies on food streets in Africa argue that hypothesis, such is the case for Kenya by Gitahi (2012), Burundi by Noel (2013), Nigeria by (Okojie and Isah, 2014; Chibundu et al., 2012; Okonko et al. , 2009), Ghana by (Mensah et al., 2012, 1999, 2002; Feglo and Nkansah, 2010), Benin by Baba-Moussa et al. (2012), Burkina Faso (Barro et al., 2002), Dakar (Diallo, 2010; Dione, 2000; Soumare, 1997), Cameroon (Ngabet Njassap 2001), Madagascar (Rakotondramanana 1998; Ravaonindriana et al., 1999) and also in countries around the world: India (Chirag et al., 2013), Philippines (Dexter et al., 2014); etc. to not only mention it. These works showed cases of food-borne infections such as microbial agents. Which constitutes a major risk to public health (WHO, 1996). In fact, Bukavu city is not safe by this scourge, like all cities of the Democratic Republic of Congo it is under pressure due to rapid urbanization, high population due to rural migration, but also knows a degrading situation of employment, housing and nutrition, but also new profitable activities (FAO, 1998). However, to deal with these challenges, another phenomenon is dispersal in our streets, the central market where utilities: this is street food, known as "Malewa" in Congolese language; which is a social reality in Bukavu. It is found everywhere in the vicinity of the streets and in markets where the food safety status is not guaranteed (Ranaivoarimanana, 2006). This appears to meet the food needs of Bukavu population as was the case for Kisangani and Kinshasa city (Manzilima, 2011; Kama, 2014). The safety of street food depends on several factors such as the quality of different materials to use and good practice of preparation. In most cases this security is not guaranteed and street food often becomes epidemic sources and gastrointestinal diseases such as gastroenteritis and diarrhea of microbial origin (Adams and Motarjemi, 1999; Barro and Traore 2002; Tjoa et al., 1977; Owhe-Ureghe et al., 1993; Umoh and Odoba, 1999). Several studies have shown that street food is exposed to severe environmental conditions such as the presence of insects, flies and air pollution (Sobel et al., 1998). Until today, most street vendors ignore good food hygiene practices. They expose the food in poor conditions creating cross-contamination and failures in food preservation (Ekanem, 1998). It is in this context that we propose to control the bacteriological quality of some consumer street food in Bukavu city urban zones and health risks to consumers from Bukavu where cases of food poisoning caused by street foods have been observed and reported in the past three years. In addition, cholera, also called disease of dirty hands, which caused the death of hundreds of people in urban