Microbiological Examination of some ImportedCanned and Frozen Foods

Abstract

A number of juices, jams, canned foods and frozen fishes available in local markets were inspected with respect to microbial contamination. We have determined the total viable bacterial cell counts in these samples and the number of g(-) lactose fermentors as a bacterial indicator of food spoilage. The results indicated that most of the food items inspected, were contaminated with large numbers of different species of g(-) ,g(+), yeast and fungi and some were contained more than the maximum permissible number of pathogenic g(-) enteric E-coli, which render these food items unsafe for human consumption.