PREVALENCE OF FOOD-BORNE PATHOGENS AND GROWTH-POTENTIAL OF SALMONELLAIN WEANING FOODS FROM ADDIS-ABABA, ETHIOPIA

One hundred samples of ready-to-consume feeding bottle contents from o utpatient infants were examined for the presence of Salmonella, Staphy lococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus, Nearly all samples had very high gross bacterial contamination, Three Salmonella isolates were encounte red from bottle contents made of cow's milk and gruel made from cereal blend. All belonged to group D, Of the 108, isolates 67 were Staph, a ureus and 38 were B. cereus. The potential of Salmonella spp to grow i n weaning foods was also determined on one common factory-produced inf ant food and one home-made infant food. In both items, Salmonella incr eased by approximately 4 log units within eight hours and reached coun ts as high as log 8 cfu/ml within twelve hours.