Microbial Analysis of Street-vended and Retort Processed Ready-to-eat Foods Available in the Markets of Kashmir Valley, India

The present study was carried out to assess the microbiological quality of different ready-to-eat foods available in the markets of Kashmir valley. In this study, 5 different samples were studied for their microbiological quality by enumeration of total viable colony counts. The results suggest the poor microbiological quality of street-vended Samosa, Chickenpatti and Rista(meat balls) and better microbiological quality of retort processed Alu mutter and Palakpaneer. The poor microbiological quality of street-vended foods could be due to poor hygienic conditions maintained during their preparation because the street vendors are often unaware of good hygienic practices (GHPs) and good manufacturing practices (GMPs). On the other hand the better microbiological quality of retort processed foods might be due to proper hygiene and processing treatment given during their manufacturing. It thus becomes important to incorporate a provision to educate the street vendors and make them aware of GHPs and GMPs to avert the problems of food-borne illnesses or infections after consuming highly contaminated street vended foods.