Asian Journal of Food Research and Nutrition

The role of microbes in food safety has been widely studied over the years, and it’s been established that these microbes have a dual role in terms of food safety. While some microbes produce mycotoxins and biogenic amines, which result in food poisoning and spoilage, others produce antioxidants and bacteriocins. The aim of this research was to evaluate bacteria involved in fermentation and determine the effect of fermentation on the nutritional value pseudo-stem of Musa paradisiaca. The pseudo-stem was harvested from a plantain farm near Rufus Giwa Polytechnic and identified at the Crop, Soil and Pest Management Department (CSP) Department of the Federal University of Technology, Akure. Bacteria from the fermented pseudo-stem of Musa paradisiaca were isolated and identified using Serial dilution. Microbial load of the fermented pseudo-stem of Musa paradisiaca revealed the total bacteria count (0.56 to 3.0 x 10² cfu/ml), Coliform count (0.50 to 3.0 x 10² cfu/ml), Pseudomonas counts (0.50 to 3.0 x 10² cfu/ml), Bacillus count (0.2 to 1.2 x 10² cfu/ml), haemolytic count (1.3 to 2.0 x 10² cfu/ml) and staphylococcal count (0.3 x 10² cfu/ml) respectively. The microorganisms identified were Staphylococcus epidemidis, Streptococcus pyogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Serratia marcescens with varying occurrence. The isolation of Staphylococcus aureus at 48 hours could indicate contamination during the fermentation procedures; however, the fact that the contaminant could survive in the fermentation environment indicates the potential for feed poisoning. Escherichia coli is capable of causing serious foodborne illness common to both animals and in man. Likewise, Serratia marcescens and Streptococcus pyogenes, with the ability to grow on blood agar, showed haemolytic strains. The result of proximate composition of the fermented plantain pseudo-stem showed that fermentation decreases crude protein, carbohydrate and moisture content but increases crude fibre content, ash and crude fat content from 4.2- 3.6%, 14.1 - 10.6%, 1.1- 2.4%, 0.8- 2.42%, 0.2- 1.5% and 20.3 - 34.2% respectively. The plantain contains significant amounts of fibre, proteins, ash, and carbohydrate. It has a lot of sugar and is often used to feed animals. By using fermented pseudo-stem of Musa paradisiaca preservation as poultry feed, better efficiency in turning feed into energy, improved growth, probiotics that aid intestinal health, a cost-effective alternative feed source, and environmental sustainability can be achieved. Fermentation is therefore adequate for the processing of Musa paradisiaca Pseudo-stem into animal feed that can be utilised in many food systems.