Assessment of microbial and chemical safety of selected urban-grown vegetables (a case of Thika municipality-Kenya)

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dc.contributor.advisorOkemo, P. O.
dc.contributor.advisorOrinda, G. O.
dc.contributor.authorInoti, Judith Kiende
dc.date.accessioned2013-08-13T06:15:36Z
dc.date.available2013-08-13T06:15:36Z
dc.date.issued2013-08-13
dc.descriptionDepartment of Home Economics, 65p. The QR 122 I5 2010
dc.description.abstractAgricultural farming in many urban cities provides food security, income, employment and contributes to poverty reduction. An estimated 800 million people living in cities worldwide are engaged in urban agriculture worldwide. Rapid urbanization in developing countries and cities has resulted in the generation of huge volumes of municipal and industrial wastewater. Consumption of food contaminated with heavy metals and micro-pathogens is a major source of health problems for man and animals. Vegetable cropping along major highways with heavy vehicular movement is a major concern food safety. This study was conducted to assess the microbial and chemical safety of selected urban grown vegetables (tomatoes and spinach) in Thika municipality. Samples were randomly collected while demographic information of the urban famers was gathered using semi-structured questionnaires, oral interviews and focus group discussions. The samples were analyzed using standardized protocol for isolating the micro-pathogens and analyzing the heavy metal ions. Numerous indistinguishable pathogens were recovered from the vegetables, soil and water sources and these are believed to be responsible for the frequent disease outbreaks. The pattern of heavy metals deposition showed a decrease in concentration with increase in distance from the road and major factories and industries. Heavy metal concentrations in cultivated soils characterized by heavy traffic were significantly higher (P ≤ 0.05) than those cultivated on soils far from industries and factories. The high microbial contamination rates that are associated with these vegetable samples indicate that overall agricultural, hygiene, harvesting, production and sale practices are poor. Demographic results showed the need to give training to urban famers to improve their hygienic standards. The data presented show that the analyzed samples had high microbial load which is hazardous for public health. The outcome of this study provides a policy guideline on contamination for urban vegetable growersen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipKenyatta Universityen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6954
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subjectVegetables --Contamination
dc.subjectVegetables --Microbiology
dc.titleAssessment of microbial and chemical safety of selected urban-grown vegetables (a case of Thika municipality-Kenya)en_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
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