Prevalence of microbial contamination of traditional ice-creams in ice-cream supplier trade units in Birjand in 2015: Short Communication

Traditional ice-cream is a type of ice-cream whose all processes of production and distribution are done by hand. The present study aimed at assessing the prevalence of bacterial contamination of traditional ice creams and its decisive factors.
The current study was a descriptive cross-sectional one in Birjand in 2015. The samples were transferred under sterile conditions and cold chain, to a food laboratory. They went through laboratory tests of Enterobacteriaceae bacteria, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus Cocos. The obtained results were analyzed using SPSS statistical software ( V:15).
The results showed that from among 96 samples collected 25 samples were acceptable while 71 samples were unusable. Maximum contaminations were due to Enterobacteriaceae in 39 cases (40%), and Staphylococcus aureus infection was found in 27 cases, (28%) the least contamination-14 (15%) cases -belonged to E. coli. In addition 39 infection (42.4%) 8 (8.69%) was because of coliforms. Besides, 8 cases were simultaneously contaminated with coliforms, escherichia coli and staphylococcus aureus, 12 samples (13.04%) with coliforms, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus; and 2 samples (2.17%) were simultaneously contaminated with coliforms and E. coli.
Birjand traditional ice-creams are highly contaminated with bacteria, which is a sign of poor hygiene in the preparation and distribution of this product.