Microbiological contamination of cooked meals in collective and commercial catering of public universities of Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire

In Côte d'Ivoire, the absence of legislation in university catering increases the risk of collective food poisoning. The aim of this study was to assess the level of contamination of cooked meals in university catering in the city of Abidjan. To do this, 160 cooked meals samples were taken in the two public universities of Abidjan. The search of mesophilic aerobic germs; Enterobacteriaceae and of Staphylococcus aureus was carried out. The results showed that in general, the microbial loads of the cooked meals analyzed were higher than the criteria required by the regulations. 40.33% of the presumptive Staphylococcus aureus strains tested are confirmed. 20 species belonging to 14 genera of Enterobacteriaceae were isolated from the different cooked meals. The species most frequently isolated from cooked meals is Klebsiella pneumoniae (19.4%) followed by Klebsiella oxytoca (17%) and Serratia liquefaciens (14.5%). In general, efforts still need to be made to improve the level of hygiene in institutional catering and commercial catering. Constant monitoring of the application of hygienic rules must be instituted, in order to prevent the occurrence of food poisoning. The use of microbiologic results of cooked meals in the universities will provide an example for similar collective catering.