Bacterial flora associated with some stages of Burukutu production

Abstract

‘Burukutu’ which is an indigenous alcoholic drink has been shown to be rich in bacterial diversity, with a total of thirteen (11) bacterial species isolated from the three stages of production (namely: steeping, mashing and maturation) sampled from two different selling points in Ilorin, metropolis.  The bacterial species isolated are Streptococcus sp; Lactobacillus sp; Bacillus sp; Pseudomonas sp; Klebsiella sp; Staphylococcus sp; Enterococcus sp; Escherichia coli; Proteus sp; Leuconostoc sp and  Micrococcus sp. Samples from the steeping stage had the highest bacterial flora followed by the mashing stage. The maturation stage of production had the least bacterial diversity of all the stages tested. Samples collected from the steeping stage, also had the highest total heterotropic count which ranged from 1.5 X 10⁴ to 2.2 X 10⁴ cfu/ml. This was followed by samples from the mashing stage with counts ranging from 8.9 X 10³ to 1.1 X 10⁴ cfu/ml.  Samples from the maturation stage had the least heterotrophic count of between 6.9 X 10² and 8.4 X 10² cfu/ml. The public health implication of these bacterial flora and their distribution among the various stages of ‘burukutu’ production was discussed.