Microbial Quality Assessment of Tissue Paper Sold within Sokoto metropolis, Nigeria

Ten (10) brands of tissue paper commercially available in Sokoto metropolis were assessed for microbial contaminants using Total bacterial plate count, Test for the presence of coliform and test for fungal load. The bacterial colony count ranges from 1.8×10⁴ CFU/g -5.2×10⁴ UCF/g. The bacterial species identified include Bacillus cereus (45%), Staphylococcus aureus(15%), Escherichia coli (15%), Bacillus lichenformis(1%), Bacillus subtilis(1%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa(1%). The fungi isolated include: Aspergillusniger(36.8%), Aspergillusfumigatus(10.5%), Rhizopusstolonifer (10.5%), Candida albicans(15.7%), and Aspergillusfumigatus(10.5%). In the coliform test, only two brands were found to be coliform positive. Rose belle has the highest with three positive tubes corresponding to 17 coliform per 100 ml on the MPN table, while Jet Aime has two corresponding to 7 coliform per 100 ml on MPN Table. All the other brands show negative results. This indicates that 80% of tested tissue paper can be a source of contamination and therefore should be produced and handled appropriately to reduce level of cross contamination.