Microbial Analysis and Proximate Composition of Boiled and Fried Local Cheese (WARA)

Fried cheese locally called Wara gets spoiled when

attacked by pathogenic bacteria, as a result of poor hygiene

practice by the producer and handlers. Wara samples were

bought in Ilesha at Atakumosa market square Osun-state. This

research was designed to isolate and enumerate microorganisms

using standard microbial methods, proximate composition and

the nutritional composition of boiled local and fried cheese

(wara). Proximate analysis was carried out to determine

nutritional composition. Klebsiella species and Esherichia coli

Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus species, Escherichia coli,

Salmonella species, Streptococcus species, Clostridium species

and Lactobacillus species were isolated using standard technique.

The highest bacteria count for the fried cheese was

2.1×105

cfu/ml the lowest bacterial count is 1.5×105

cfu/ml unit

highest bacterial count of the boiled local cheese was

4.4×105

(cfu/ml), lowest bacterial count was 1.8×105

(cfu/ml)

while the range of the values was 2.6×105

. Fungi isolated were

Penicillium and Gymnoase. Fat content for the boiled cheese has

the highest mean value of 44.78 ±0.028cfu/ml and Ash has

lowest mean value of 2.46±0.014cfu/ml. The moisture content of

fried cheese had the highest mean value 55.32±0.014 while the

carbohydrate had the lowest mean value 0.63±0.02 for fried

chesse. Fibre content was not detected in both samples. The

microbial contamination might generally occur based on lack of

standardization, fecal contamination and poor personal hygiene

in the production, handling and storage. Therefore, all cheese

producers and consumers should take care during processing and

storage of the cheese to prevent contamination.

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