Bacterial flora associated with some stages of Burukutu production

‘Burukutu’ which is an indigenous alcoholic drink has been shown to be rich in bacterial diversity, with a total of thirteen (11) bacterial species isolated from the three stages of production (namely: steeping, mashing and maturation) sampled from two different selling points in Ilorin, metropolis. The bacterial species isolated are Streptococcus sp; Lactobacillus sp; Bacillus sp; Pseudomonas sp; Klebsiella sp; Staphylococcus sp; Enterococcus sp; Escherichia coli; Proteus sp; Leuconostoc sp and Micrococcus sp. Samples from the steeping stage had the highest bacterial flora followed by the mashing stage. The maturation stage of production had the least bacterial diversity of all the stages tested. Samples collected from the steeping stage, also had the highest total heterotropic count which ranged from 1.5 X 104 to 2.2 X 104 cfu/ml. This was followed by samples from the mashing stage with counts ranging from 8.9 X 103 to 1.1 X 104 cfu/ml. Samples from the maturation stage had the least heterotrophic count of between 6.9 X 102 and 8.4 X 102 cfu/ml. The public health implication of these bacterial flora and their distribution among the various stages of ‘burukutu’ production was discussed.