Microbiological Assessment of Street Foods of Gangtok And Nainital, Popular Hill Resorts of India

Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus plantarum, L. brevis, Enterococcus faecium, Bacillus subtilis, B. Pumilus, B. licheniformis, B. cereus, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Ent. cloacae, Salmonella enteritica, Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, and Shigella flexneri were isolated from 233 samples of different street foods collected from Gangtok and Nainital, two popular hill resorts of India. The dominant contaminant bacteria were enterobacteriaceae followed by Staphylococcus spp. and B. cereus in food samples tested. Only few street foods were tested positive for toxin production. Salmonella toxins and Staphylococcus enterotoxins were not detected in street foods tested.