Abstract

The microbial distribution and antimicrobial effect of AgZnO and AgTiO nanoparticles against microorganisms isolated from floury snacks sold in Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) was investigated. Three common floury snacks viz; meat pie, eggroll and puff-puff were collected from these vendors and examined for microbial load and types using standard methods. The microbial load recorded ranged from 1.2x10² to 1.8x10⁴ cfu/g. The microbial load of puff-puff was the lowest (1.2x10²–1.9x10³ cfu/g). The microorganisms isolated from these products include, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus spp, Serratia marcescens, Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus fumigatus. The microbial isolates showed varying degree of resistance to commercial antibiotics while the AgZnO and AgTiO nanoparticles were able to inhibit all the isolates with zones of inhibition ranging from 9mm to 20mm at 100mg/mL. The results from this study revealed that AgZnO and AgTiO nanoparticles (NPs) has significant antimicrobial activity on microorganisms isolated from floury snacks, however, the issue of safety is still very crucial.

Keywords

antimicrobial, nanoparticles (NP), floury, snacks, microorganisms