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Heavy metals and pathogenic bacteria detected in fermented cassava dough and <i>attiéké</i> sold in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso


Ibonyé Dieni
Touwendsida Serge Bagre
Kuan Abdoulaye Traore
Oumarou Zongo
François Tapsoba
Bazuin Sylvain Raoul Bazie
Marguerite Edith Malatala Nikiema
Abdallah Sawadogo
Nicolas Barro

Abstract

Attiéké, a local processed cassava roots took place in population dietary habit. This widely consumed street vended attiéké is sometimes contaminated by chemical compounds and bacteria due to the growth soil and poor hygiene during processing. This study was carried out to assess the heavy metals and  microbial contamination of fermented dough and attiéké sold in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. A total of 60 samples of fermented cassava dough and  attiéké were collected and tested by flame atomic absorption spectrometry for contamination by cadmium, lead and aluminum. Contamination by Escherichia coli, coliforms, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella spp. was carried out by microbiological standard methods. Dough samples means  contamination by lead, cadmium and aluminum levels were respectively of 0.738, 0.006 and 1.011 mg/kg and 0.393; 0.003 and 0.492 mg /kg for attiéké.  Staphylococcus aureus was detected in all samples with an average load of 1.80x104 CFU.g-1 in the dough and 1.49x104 CFU.g-1 in the attiéké.  Thermotolerant coliforms were detected in 15% of the dough samples with an average load of 0.015x102 CFU.g-1 . Salmonella was not detected.  Contamination of dough and attiéké indicated a need of awareness on cassava, good agricultural and good hygienic practices during cassava processing  into attiéké. 


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eISSN: 1997-342X
print ISSN: 1991-8631