The predominance of multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria among the populace, edible foods and drinks is fast becoming the major concern in most communities. Three (3) locally prepared hibiscus drinks from three locations were aseptically collected and transported to the Microbiology Laboratory of Federal University of Technology, Minna. Samples were serially diluted and were inoculated on various media through the pour plate method. The bacterial isolates were identified based on their Gram reaction and other biochemical tests. The antibiotic susceptibility tests were carried out for the bacterial isolates using the disc diffusion method on Muller hinton agar. The result revealed that out of all the locally prepared drinks sampled Zobo (0.34 x10³) from Federal University of Technology, Minna, Bosso campus had the highest microbial count. Various bacterial pathogens were isolated and identified with Salmonella sp having the highest frequency of occurrence (25%). The antibiotic susceptibility tests revealed that all bacterial isolates were Multidrug resistant and as such are a great threat to the health of the general public especially the regular consumers of these locally prepared drinks. Hence, there is a need for adequate and continuous surveillance by food regulatory bodies in Nigeria, to curtail the spread and infections associated with Multidrug resistant bacteria.

Keywords: Locally prepared drinks, Bacteria, Multi-drug resistant bacteria, Zobo