The impact of post-harvest treatment on the microbial quality was assessed in samples of honey produced in parts of Ghana to identify sources of contamination and understand how such contamination can be managed. Honey was sampled from three regions in Ghana: Greater Accra, Ashanti, and Brong Ahafo. For each region, honey was collected from the producer (i.e., pre- and post-processing) and the retailer. This was done for ten different producers and their corresponding retailers, generating a total of 90 honey samples. Microbial analysis indicated that some honey samples were positive for total viable counts (TVC) and out of the four species of microbes considered, three species were detected in the samples. These are Fecal coliform species (sp.), Clostridium sp., and Staphylococcus sp. Salmonella sp. was not detected in any of the samples analyzed. The investigation revealed that 83% of the honey sampled was positive for TVC and 13% of the samples had TVC more than 100 CFU/mL. Honey samples collected directly from the producers (both pre- and post-processing) had 53% of the samples testing positive for TVC whereas 100% of the honey sampled at the retail points tested positive for TVC, indicating post-harvest microbial contamination of honey. The data suggested that the microbial contamination of honey can be prevented or tremendously reduced if appropriate regulation mechanisms can be put in place for honey production and marketing. Gamma irradiation with a cobalt-60 source at a maximum dose of 10 kGy was effective in decontaminating the honey. Honey samples were analyzed for selected physicochemical characteristics before and after irradiation. The differences (p = 0.05) observed could be linked to the effect of post-harvest treatment of honey rather than irradiation. For instance, there were higher levels of apparent sucrose and ash content in honey collected from retailers relative to honey sampled at the producers’ points at all irradiation doses, confirming that post-harvest handling has more impact on honey quality.

在加纳部分地区生产的蜂蜜样品中，评估了采后处理对微生物质量的影响，以识别污染源并了解如何管理此类污染。蜂蜜是从加纳的三个地区取样的：大阿克拉，阿散蒂和布隆阿哈福。对于每个区域，从生产商（即前处理和后处理）和零售商处收集蜂蜜。这是针对十个不同的生产商及其相应的零售商完成的，总共产生了90个蜂蜜样品。微生物分析表明，一些蜂蜜样品的总活菌计数（TVC）呈阳性，在所考虑的四种微生物中，样品中检测到三种。这些是粪大肠菌种（sp。），梭状芽胞杆菌（Clostridium sp。）和金黄色葡萄球菌。沙门氏菌。所分析的任何样品中均未检测到。调查显示，有83％的蜂蜜TVC阳性，而有13％的TVC高于100 CFU / mL。直接从生产商那里收集的蜂蜜样品（预处理和后处理）中有53％的样品TVC呈阳性，而在零售点采样的100％的蜂蜜在TVC呈阳性，表明蜂蜜收获后的微生物污染。数据表明，如果可以为蜂蜜的生产和销售建立适当的调节机制，则可以防止或大大减少蜂蜜的微生物污染。用最大剂量为10 kGy的60钴源进行γ射线辐照可有效净化蜂蜜。在辐照之前和之后，分析蜂蜜样品的选定理化特性。观察到的差异（p = 0.05）可能与收获后蜂蜜处理而不是辐射处理的效果有关。例如，相对于在所有辐照剂量下在生产商处采样的蜂蜜，从零售商处收集的蜂蜜中的表观蔗糖和灰分含量较高，这证实了收获后的处理对蜂蜜质量的影响更大。