Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Quality Assessment of Street Foods Sold in Jaipur City of Rajasthan

Street foods are a heterogeneous food category consisting of meals, drinks and snacks. They provide a source of attractive, affordable, convenient and often nutritious food for many section of the society. Street food trade is large and complex. They have been very popular throughout the country since ages. As the street foods are consumed by people of all strata and age groups, so, there is a need to assess the quality of the street foods. The objective of the study was to assess the sensory, nutritional and microbiological quality of 3 commonly vended street foods i.e. Gol gappa, Pao bhaji and Bhelpuri. Among various street foods sold in Jaipur city, Gol gappa, Pao bhaji and Bhelpuri were found to be very commonly sold. The samples were procured from street food vendors located at six different areas of Jaipur city. Twelve samples of each were collected aseptically and were assessed for organoleptic characteristics, nutritional quality and microbial quality. All the samples analyzed possessed good sensory quality and were found to be nutritionally adequate but the microbial quality was reported to be very poor, all samples were heavily contaminated by bacteria's. E.coli was isolated from all the samples. Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Shigella were reported in majority of samples. Salmonella was not present in Gol gappas but was reported in 8.33 per cent of Bhelpuri samples. Thus, the result revealed that Gol gappa, Pao bhaji and Bhelpuri sold by street food vendors of Jaipur city were not at all safe for consumption.