Bacteriology of weaning foods in some areas of Varanasi

Abstract

Mothers of 106 children of 6 to 24 months of age (37 urban, 39 urban slum and 30 rural), were interviewed to find out the weaning foods being used for their children. One hundred and fifty samples of actual weaning food being fed to children were collected in sterile containers for bacteriological studies. Dal, rice or mixture of rice and dal were the most commonly used weaning foods (35.3, 19.8 and 33.6% respectively). Fifty-eight per cent of the weaning food samples yielded positive cultures for E. coli indicating high fecal contamination. The other organisms isolated were K. pneumonae, Ps. aeruginosa, S. fecalis and Citrobacter.