Microbial Quality of Packaged Drinking Water and Soft Drinks Sold in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu

摘要

Altogether 30 packaged drinking water samples of 5 different brands and 72 soft drinks and juice samples of 12 different brands collected from different retail stores of Kanyakumari district during April to June 2007 were subjected to microbiological analyses as described by the Bureau of Indian Standards. Among packaged drinking water samples, 9 samples (30%), 4 samples (13.33%) and 13 samples (43.33%) contained E. coli, Clostridium and mold, respectively. Around 26.67% of the drinking water samples exceeded the limit of total microbial count. 59.72% and 51.39% of the soft drinks and juice samples tested were positive for E. coli and yeast, respectively. Molds (91.67%) and coliforms (84.72%) were found to be dominant, while members of the genus Clostridium contributed to 44.44%. However, few samples (8.3%) were found to be contaminated with Salmonella spp. As packaged drinking water and soft drinks are ready to drink commodities, the presence of pathogens could poses significant health hazards to the consumers, especially to immunocompromised individuals.