Food around UP

For some reason, people in UP enjoy eating.  It may be because of the stress accompanied by being a UP student, faculty, or stuff.  It may also be because the food inside and around UP is just so irresistible.  Did we ever stop to think, however, just how safe the famous street food of UP really is?

Adobo, a common local delicacy, was procured from Krus na Ligas Quezon city and was tested for the presence of Salmonella spp. on the same day.  Salmonella is the leading cause of gastrointestinal diseases worldwide, as well as the most common cause food borne illnesses.  Therefore testing for the presence of Salmonella is a good indication, whether the food is safe for consumption or not.

The food sample was first ostracized with a solution of buffered peptone water to resuscitate injured microorganisms.  The solution was the inoculated into selenite cysteine broth, a selective enriching medium.  After inoculation, the solution was streaked into bismuth sulfite agar, another selective medium for Salmonella spp.  Finally, confirmatory tests were conducted including lysine iron agar, triple sugar iron agar, and urea broth.

Based on the series of tests, the food sample of Adobo from Krus na Ligas was found to be contaminated with Salmonella spp. and is therefore not safe for human consumption.  Therefore, common recommendations include cooking food properly and/or purchasing food from a reputable source. 

Based on an experiment from Food Science 116, Food Microbiology

Conducted by:

Chingcuanco, Caleb Joshua

Elpa, Maxine Sebastianne

Rocha, Reina Danielle

Zacarias, Angelica

Reference:

1. US Department of Agriculture. (2011). Foodborne Illnesses and Disease

Available from:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FACTSheets/Salmonella_Questions_&_Answers/index.asp

2. Gabriel, A. (2010). Development of fimY-based Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay for Detection of Salmonella in Food