1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
Vegetable soup is a generally warm soup that is made by combining ingredients such as meat, vegetable with stock, water, pepper, Onions, palm oil and others liquid. Vegetable soup are characterized by boiling solid and liquid ingredients in a pot until the flavours are extracted. Vegetable soups are eaten in a variety of ways as part of main meals and snacks.
Francis et al., (2001), point out that vegetable soup are consumed for their nutritional and medicinal benefits. The nutritional content of vegetable soup aeries considerably, though generally they contain little protein or fat and varying proportions of vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin K and vitamin B6, provitamins, dietary minerals and carbohydrates.
In southern Nigeria because of their pleasant taste the leaves are generally considered as a great soup that has high concentration of icon and used by anemia patients to build up the blood cells (Ladeji et al., 1998).
1.2 Aims of the Study
- To ascertain microbial safety of vegetable soup
- To isolate micro-organisms associated with vegetable soup
- To Identify the microbial types
- To determine the microbial load of the sampled vegetable soup
- To determine the microbial load, of each type
1.3 Statement of the Problem
Annous et al., (2005), explain that vegetable soup contains micro-organisms some of which are pathogenic and other are non-pathogenic. Moreover Wiswanathan et al., (2001). Highlight that the pathogenic micro-organisms in vegetable soup produce serious threat to the safety of the consumer and reduces quality as well as the acceptability of the products in vegetable soup. The above statements have prompted the need for a project work on bacteriological examination of vegetable soup.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The results of this project work would reveal the microbial safety of vegetable soup. The results would equally reveal if the microbial load of the sampled vegetable soups was high or low and if the microbial types involved were pathogenic or not. If the microbial load was high and the microbial types were pathogenic, then hygienic practices were not observed during the preparation of the vegetable soups and should be introduced. But if the microbial load was low, the microbial types were pathogenic, then hygienic practices were observed during the preparation of the vegetable soups and should be encouraged.
1.5 Limitation The Study
This project was limited to microbial examination of vegetable soup.
Another problem encounter was poor Financial status on my part as a student which was a big problem during the project work.
Moreover, the cost of media and reagents was high, thus limiting the number of samples ran during the project analysis.
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