Assessment of the sanitary quality of ready to eat sesame, a low moisture street food from Burkina Faso

Background Microbial contamination of edible low moisture food poses a significant public health risk for human. In this study, the microbial quality of sweet dehulled sesame seed croquettes, salted dehulled sesame seed and the raw sesame seed, sold under ambient conditions were examined. The samples were collected in the cities of Burkina Faso. The first type is sweet dehulled sesame seed croquettes (n(1) = 25); the second type is salted dehulled sesame seed (n(2) = 25) and the third type is raw sesame seed (n(3) = 25). Assessment of the microbial quality was based on the total aerobic mesophilic bacteria, the thermotolerant coliforms, the yeasts and moulds, the E. coli, and the Salmonella spp. using ISO methods. Results The results showed the presence of microorganisms varying from