Prevalence and colonization of fungi in dried food (garri) obtained from Ikere-Ekiti

Garri is consumed by several millions of people in the West African sub-region and in Nigeria in particular, regardless of ethnicity and socio-economic class. However, production and handling methods have not been standardized resulting in garri product with varying mycological contamination. The objective of this study was to assess the mycological safety and mycological contamination of garri marketed in Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State. A total of eight (8) samples of garri displayed in the open at Ikere-Ekiti markets were used for this study. The samples were collected with sterile polythene bags adopting standard procedures and transported to the laboratory for analysis. The result of this study clearly showed fungal contamination resulting from its display in the open market, Aspergillus spp. and Mucor sp. had the highest frequency of occurrence and Aspergillus spp. was the fungi most frequently isolated. Other fungi species isolated in the garri samples were Absidia spp., Botrytis spp., Penicillium spp. and Rhizopus spp. Since this product harbor arrays of fungi, strategy to antagonize their growth and survival in this commodity in order to neutralize the potential of these organisms serving as agents of food borne diseases should be adopted.