Research Article

Microbial quality of street-vended ice cream

Abo El-Makarem, H.S.
Department of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt

Abstract

Ice cream is a delicious dairy product commonly consumed during summer in all age groups. Due to its composition, it can harbor many potent pathogens. Most ice creams become contaminated with microbes during production, transit, and preservation. Such contaminated food product can be responsible for food borne infections in children, elderly people and immune-suppressed patients. Therefore, the study was conducted to evaluate the microbiological quality of street-vended ice creams sold in different areas of Alexandria city, Egypt. One hundred street vended ice cream samples (50 packed and 50 unpacked) randomly collected samples and analyzed for total bacterial count, Enterobacteriaceae count, coliform count, enterococci count and Staphylococcus aureus. The results revealed that the mean value of total viable count, Enterobacteriaceae count, Coliform count, Enterococci count and Staphylococcus aureus in packed and unpacked ice cream samples were 1.9x103±0.3x103, 1.0x106±0.8x106; 2.1x103±0.8x103, 1.9x104±0.8x104; 1.6x103± 0.6x103, 0.8x104±0.6x104; 1.3x103±0.05x103, 7.4x104±5.5x104 and 9.1x102±2.6x102, 0.8x104±0.4x104cfu/ml, respectively. Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Citrobacter sp. could be isolated and identified from the examined packed and unpacked ice cream samples. Serological identification of E.coli showed that the O111: K58: B4 is the most serotype of E.coli isolated from unpacked ice cream samples while O128: K67: B12 is the most prevalent E.coli serotype isolated from packed ice cream samples. It is recommended to launch awareness programs to minimize the contamination of ice cream products.

Keywords

Ice cream, coliform, enterococci, Staph. aueus, E.coli, serology