Abstract

Wooden toothpicks are small thin sticks with pointy ends used in dislodging food particles or debris from between the teeth. It is a commonly used disposable kitchen utensil in Nigeria and other parts of the world. This study aimed to determine the microbial flora associated with wooden toothpicks used in restaurants in Port Harcourt Metropolis.  A total of forty (40) samples of wooden toothpicks from eight (8) restaurants within Port Harcourt metropolis were aseptically collected and cultured on appropriate Agar medium such as nutrient Agar, Mannitol salt Agar, Sabouraud dextrose Agar using standard microbiological techniques for colony count and isolation of bacteria and fungi. Results showed that the mean total heterotrophic bacteria count ranged from 1.3 x 10⁶   to 21.0 x 10⁶CFU/g, total Staphylococcal count ranged from 0.0 x 10⁴ to 7.0 x 10⁴CFU/g while total heterotrophic fungi count ranged from 1.5 x 10⁴ to 216.5 x 10⁴CFU/g respectively. Fourteen (14) bacterial species belonging to four (4) genera were identified. Their occurrence (%) were; Bacillus sp. (57%), Pseudomonas sp. (14.29%), Staphylococcus sp. (7.14%) and Escherichia sp. (21.43%). While a total of 10 fungal species belonging to three (3) fungal genera were isolated. They include Saccharomyces sp. (66.7%), Penicillium sp. (16.7%) and Mucor sp. (8.3%). Bacillus sp. isolates were highly susceptible to most antibiotics like gentamicin and levofloxacin with 100% susceptibility but resistant to ciprofloxacin. Escherichia coli isolates were also susceptible to ofloxacin and gentamicin with 100% susceptibility but also showed resistance to few antibiotics like streptomycin and aureomycin at (33.3%) respectively.  This study shows that there is a high rate of contamination of these wooden toothpicks which may represent a unique route in the spread of bacterial and fungal pathogens to the public. This is of public health concern, therefore compliance to proper hygiene standards and usage of alternative materials with low susceptibility to microbial contamination should be encouraged.