engleski

Microbiological contamination in fresh squeezed juices

Juices, especially freshly squeezed, are very healthy food and provide many important vitamins and nutrients. In these modern times many people want to eat and drink so-called “superfoods”, and among them especially drink fresh squeezed fruits and vegetables, but inappropriately treated foodstuffs and juices can be contaminated and pose health risks. The aim of the study was to investigate microbiological threats in fresh squeezed juices sold in the city of Zagreb. In this study, 117 samples of fresh squeezed juice from restaurants, bars, supermarkets and healthy food stores in Zagreb during the period from 2015- 2018 were analysed according several microbiological parameters. Methods used in this work were traditional ISO methods by cultivation, for Enterobacteriaceae ISO 21528, for yeasts and moulds ISO 21527, for Listeria spp. ISO 11290-2, E. coli ISO 16649-2, and for total count ISO 4833- 2. The detection method used for Salmonella spp. was ISO 6579. The results obtained show the condition of fresh squeezed juices on the Zagreb region markets. Around 37 % of the samples exceeded one or more microbiological parameters – 34 % of the samples exceeded Enterobacteriaceae levels, 40 % aerobic mesophilic bacteria and 45 % of yeasts and moulds deemed not acceptable by food regulations in Croatia. These results call for better hygiene in handling fruits and vegetables used in fresh juice production. As fresh squeezed juices may contain harmful bacteria and can cause illness, our results call for better control of critical points in the production process.

bacteria ; control ; food ; fruits ; HACCP ; vegetables

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