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The safety, efficacy and quality of herbal mixtures have been an important concern for health authorities and health professional, especially now there is increase in the use of herbal mixtures. This study was aimed at isolation and identification of microorganisms from some liquid herbal mixtures sold in Owerri metropolis,Imo State, South East of Nigeria. A total of forty-five samples of herbal mixture were selected at random,three samples of same mixtures from three different locations respectively, from herbal shops in Enugu metropolis and were analysed at Orange Research and Diagnostic Laboratory in Owerri, samples were inoculated into, MaCkonkey agar, CLED and Chocolate agar plates, and incubated at 37oC for 24 hrs. Sabroaud dextrose agar slants were also inoculated for the isolation of fungi for 7days. Viable bacterial counts of the samples were also performed using nutrient agar. The organisms isolated were identified using biochemical tests, and the following organisms were identified, Escherichia coli spp, Enterobacter spp, Aspergillus spp, Rhizopus spp, Bacillus spp, mucor spp.Some of the herbal medicine were highly contaminated and most of the organisms, isolated were gotten through poor handling, poor manufacturing of this herbal mixtures and raw materials used in preparing this herbal mixtures.

The poor hygienic state of our abattoirs and markets where meats are sold have posed a major threat to public health. The microbial quality of meats sold in Owerri municipal Imo State, Nigeria was investigated with the aim of determining the microbial loads of meat sold in these areas. Samples numbering 110 were collected from 11 meat samples types sourced from cow, goat, and chicken. The eleven (11) meat sample types were fresh cow muscles (FCM), fresh cow intestine (FCI), fresh cow liver (FCL), and fresh cow towel (FCT). Fresh goat muscles (FGM), fresh chicken muscle (FCM), fresh goat intestine (FGI), fresh chicken intestine (FCI), Fresh goat liver (FGL), fresh chicken liver (FCL), fresh goat towel (FGT) etc. The samples were collected with sterile containers and swab sticks. The organisms isolated were Escherichia coli, Salmonella species, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella species, Coliform species. Fresh chicken intestine has the highest total mean bacteria count of 1.1 × 107 (cfu)/ml, followed by fresh cow towel 7.0 × 106 (cfu)/ml and lastly fresh chicken liver 8.2 ×105 (cfu)/ml. The presence of all these organisms can pose a major threat to public health. This calls for regular inspection of animals, abattoir environments and regular health check of abattoirs workers and butchers.