Published Paper Details:

The foods that we eat carry microbial associations whose composition depends upon which organisms gain access and how they grow, survive and interact in the food over time. The microorganisms present will originate from the natural micro-?ora of the raw material and those organisms introduced during harvesting, slaughter, processing, storage and distribution. The numerical balance between the various types of microorganisms will be determined by the properties of the food, its storage environment, properties of the organisms themselves and the e?ects of processing. The aim of the study is to check the microbiological quality of street foods. In present work samples constituting spicy salty water and sweet chutney used for preparation of chat dishes were collected from five different locations from street vendors in Nasik city of Maharashtra. These samples were tested for different parameters such as Total Bacterial Count, Total Coliform Count, Presence of Moulds, Escherichia Coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas. Enumeration of bacteria from these samples showed the presence of mesophilic bacteria in each of the sample and there was a considerable variation in bacterial content and pathogens amongst the samples.