Microbiological quality in nasi dagang gravy of selected local food premises

Abstract

Foodborne illness in Terengganu has become increasingly staggering in numbers recently according to the statistics provided by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia. Terengganu is currently at the fifth place in statistic chart of the trend of food poisoning cases I inked to ready-to-eat foods. The objectives of the present study were to determine the microbial profiles of Nasi Dagang Gravy of selected local food premises. Gravy samples were purchased over a period of two months from three selected street premises located in Kuala Nerus area, Terengganu. Standards methods were used to determine the Total Plate Count (TPC), Staphylococcus aureus count, Coliform count, Psychrotrophic count, Yeast and Mould count and the presence/absence of presumptive E. coli. In descending order of average microbial counts, the highest counts were Total Plate Count, Staphylococcus aureus, Yeast and Mould, Psychrotroph and lastly Coliform. The presence/absence of presumptive E. coli were also determined which was 37%. The microbiological analysis revealed that all bacteria counts were insignificantly (P>0.05) difference between three premises except for total plate count. Overall this study demonstrated that the microbiological quality of nasi dagang gravy within the acceptable standard of ready-to-eat food by Australian/New Zealand Standard that was used by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia.