Professional paper
Ice cream safety in the Dubrovnik area in the period 2006-2008
Jakov Zadre
Aleksandar Racz
orcid.org/0000-0002-3118-2623
; Zdravstveno veleučilište, Mlinarska 38, Zagreb
Lana Feher Turković
Abstract
From the epidemiological point of view, ice cream is a very risky foodstuff, which is illustrated by the fact that in 2006, 18.6% (520/2796) of samples from the entire Croatian market were microbiologically unsafe and, therefore, not in compliance with food safety standards. With regards to farreaching health-related, as well as economical and promotional consequences of an alimentary infection and intoxication in the peak tourist season, the aim of this paper was to monitor the microbiological safety of ice-cream from 9 ice-cream parlours in the Dubrovnik city area during three calendar years. During 2006, 13.58% (11/70) of samples were found unsafe. The following bacteria were detected in the samples, which is a sign of non-compliance with food safety standards: representatives of family Enterobacteriaceae in 8 samples (9.87%), Staphylococcus aureus in 3 samples (3.7%) and aerobic mesophillic bacteria in 3 samples (3.7%). During 2007, 13.86% (14/87) of samples were not in compliance with food safety standards due to the presence of representatives of family Enterobacteriaceae in 13 samples (12.87%) and aerobic mesophillic bacteria in 2 samples (1.98%). In 2008, 9.46% (7/67) of samples were not in compliance with food safety standards due to the presence of representatives of family Enterobacteriaceae in 6 samples (8.1%), aerobic mesophillic bacteria in 2 samples (2.7%) and Staphylococcus aureus in 1 sample (1.35%). Neither Salmonella spp. nor Listeria monocytogenes were isolated from any sample. The results indicate an improvement of microbiological safety of ice-cream. Moreover, it is necessary to pay more attention to hygiene during the production, storage and handling of ice-cream in order to further reduce the number of negative samples in which the presence of representatives of family Enterobacteriaceae is recorded.
Keywords
ice-cream; food microbiology; salmonella infection; staphylococcal food poisoning; food analysis
Hrčak ID:
49473
URI
Publication date:
22.3.2010.
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