Bacteriological evaluation of weaning dried foods consumed in Taiz City, Republic of Yemen

Bacteriological assessment of commercial weaning foods, traditional weaning foods in addition to cereals and legumes samples (ingredients that formed the traditional weaning foods) that consumed in Taiz city, Yemen was carried out. The results showed that the standard counts of mesophilic aerobic bacteria and mesophilic aerobic endospore-forming bacteria in commercial weaning foods were 4.83±0.79 and 2.44±0.57log10CFUg−1, respectively. Whereas, this type of food were free from coliform bacteria, Enterococcus spp. and Salmonella spp. On another side, the standard counts of mesophilic aerobic bacteria, mesophilic aerobic endospore forming bacteria, coliform bacteria, and Enterococcus spp. in traditional weaning food samples were 4.83±0.79, 2.35±0.46, 2.63±1.41, and 1.41±1.10log10CFUg−1, respectively. Moreover, Salmonella spp. were observed in 58.3% of these samples. The results indicated that the major most source of contamination was red sorghum and the lowest source of contamination was rice. This study showed that the tested commercial weaning foods were better quality than traditional weaning food samples.