Quantitative assessment of the microbiological risk associated with the consumption of attieke in Côte d’Ivoire

Abstract Attieke is produced and consumed throughout the entire territory of Cote d’Ivoire. It is a food made by lactic fermentation of cassava and prepared in advance. It is the first ready-to eat meal sold in the towns of Cote d’Ivoire and increasingly in other African countries. For those reasons, we studied the quantitative assessment of the microbiological risk associated with this product. The objectives were firstly to appreciate the microbiological quality of attieke sold on the markets of major cities, and secondly, to quantitatively assess risk for Clostridium perfringens in attieke. To achieve these objectives, a microbiological analysis of attieke samples sold on the open markets was carried out in order to enumerate C. perfringens and some indicator microorganisms of the microbiological quality of the food: Aerobic mesophiles, total coliforms, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus . A household survey was also conducted to estimate the daily attieke consumption per individual. Statistical analysis of the average concentration for each microorganism in attieke reveals a great variability generally highly significant (p  E. coli (>10 2  cfu/g) at Daloa and Abengourou, and S. aureus on all areas or towns (>10 5  cfu/g) except Yamoussoukro. Concerning the results about the quantitative risk assessment for C. perfringens , 38% of servings sold contain concentrations exceeded the acceptable limit of 10 5  cfu/g for the readyto eat meals. Using Monte-Carlo simulations, the probability of ingesting a dose greater than 10 9 bacterias of C. perfringens varied between 1.27% and 2.80%. This means that for every 100 000 individuals consuming per day attieke sold in retail, 1270 to 2800 could be potential victims of foodborne illness outbreaks caused by C. perfringens only.