Microbiological safety and nutritional quality of street-vended fruit juices in urban centers

Abstract:

If street-vended fruit juices are as nutritious as vendors claim, why do public-health records show recurrent gastroenteritis outbreaks linked to these beverages? That hypothesis—that microbial contamination offsets any nutritional benefit—drove this research. We sampled 120 fruit juice portions from 40 street vendors across four urban zones in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, during January–August 2023. Total plate count (TPC), coliform, Escherichia coli, yeast and mould, and Salmonella were enumerated alongside vitamin C, total sugars, pH, and titratable acidity. By March, 68.3% of samples exceeded the Indonesian SNI limit for TPC (5 log CFU mL⁻¹), and 74.2% exceeded the coliform limit (2 log CFU mL⁻¹). E. coli was detected in 41.7% of samples; Salmonella in 8.3%. Vitamin C content declined by 34–52% between preparation and the fourth hour of ambient display. These findings confirm that microbial contamination of street juices in Makassar is widespread and worsens rapidly with holding time, posing a clear public-health risk that demands regulatory intervention.