Ogi (cornmeal) a cereal fermented paste was produced in the laboratory and analyzed for the hazards and critical control point associated with it. Microbial counts were made at every stage of Ogi preparation ranging from the maize washing to the fermentation stage using spread plate method on appropriate agar. Similarly, bacterial growth and survival was done on appropriate media for 0, 6, 12, 18 and 24 hours respectively. Study showed an increase in microbial count at the maize washing and wet milling stage with values of 3.9 ± 0.38 and 3.93 ± 0.38 respectively, which explains the effect of exposure of commodity and commercial milling machine on food samples. However, there was a drastic reduction in the microbial growth at the fermentation stage with a value of 2.65±0.37 which shows the influence of fermentation on the quality of food. Growth and survival of pathogens enumerated in this study showed decrease in number of cells at 2.40 and 2.46 per hour for 18hours and 24hours being Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus respectively. Organism could not grow but only survived for a short period of time. The critical control point does not support the growth of pathogenic microorganism which gives it a good safety record even when prepared under unhygienic conditions but measures such as HACCP should be taken to minimize incidence of pathogens in food.
