Study on bacterial contamination in hot trend street food - milk tea

¹ Institute of Environmental Sciences, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
² Faculty of Food and Environmental Engineering, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
³ Faculty of Environmental, Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment, Ho Chi Minh City 70000, Viet Nam
⁴ Faculty of Biology and Environmental Science, The University of Education, Danang, Vietnam
⁵ Water and Engineering Management, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathum Thani, Thailand

^* Corresponding author: thanhtran2710@gmail.com

Abstract

The safety and presence of pathogenic microorganisms in street foods are attracting special attention from consumers. Milk tea (bubble tea) is a hot trend that is most popular among young people in street food in Southeast Asia. In this study, the method of surveying and quantifying Ecoli - Coliform in milk tea samples was combined to assess microbial contamination status and assess the opinion of students. Initial results show the existence of pathogenic microorganisms Ecoli and Coliform in milk tea with the significantly different level of contamination between milk tea with the well-known brand (brand name) and no brand name (no brand name). The survey results show that consumers and students, in particular, have a very high level of spending on milk tea and are very concerned about food safety and hygiene in milk tea. However, the information and understanding on food safety and foodborne pathogens are minimal.