Abstract

This present research is centred on evaluation of the microorganisms associated with salt-treated and untreated corn caramel  (Ogi/Akamu) kept at room temperature (28 ±2) °C for two weeks using standard techniques. The purchased ogi was stored in the Microbiology laboratory at ambient temperature and treated with different concentrations of cooking salt. The identified microbial isolates were: Lactobacillus sp, Bacillus sp Micrococcus sp, Staphylococcus sp, Aspergillus sp, Rhizopus sp, Fusarium sp and Saccharomyces sp. The analyses showed that Ogi 1 had higher total viable counts for both bacteria and fungi than Ogi 2. The bacterial counts ranged from   3.3 x 10⁵ – 1.75 x 10⁷ cfu/g while the fungal counts ranged from 3.3 × 10⁵ – 7.4 ×10⁶ cfu/g in the untreated samples. The same bacterial and fungal genera found in Ogi 1 and Ogi 2 were identified in the salt-treated samples (Ogi 3 and Ogi 4) but there was a significant decrease in the microbial load in samples treated with 0.5 g salt and only Bacillus sp and Staphylococcus sp were isolated in the treated samples. Bacillus subtilis was the most frequently occurring bacterial isolate (47%) while the least occurring was Micrococcus sp (23%) and the most frequently occurring fungal isolate was Saccharomyces sp (50%) while Fusarium and Aspergillus were the least occurring fungal isolate. The results of this research have shown that cooking salt can serve as an inexpensive material for extending the shelf-life of Ogi.