Aerobic spore-forming bacteria and chemical composition of some Nigerian fermented soup condiments

A total of 97 strains of spore-forming Bacilluswere isolated from 45 samples of three Nigerian fermented condiments, obtained from retail markets located inSouthwestern Nigeria. The isolates were identified asB. subtilis (33%), B. pumilus (19%), B. licheniformis (22%), B. brevis (9%), B.megaterium (12%) and B. polymyxa (5%). Themicrobial load of the condiments showed that the averagecount of spore-formers was between 10⁷ to 10⁹cfu/g. The moisture contents of iru, ugba and ogiri were 57.18%, 46.32% and 42.34%, respectively,while the protein contents were 18.26%, 17.17% and 17.96%. The percentage fat was 29.88%, 40.25% and 44.14% for iru, ugba and ogiri. The ashcontent ranged from 5.8 to 6.1%; a 0.1% titratableacidity and pH values above 7.0 were obtained for the three condiments.