engleski

Fungal contamination of Croatian honey

Food contamination by fungi poses a serious human health-risk, especially in vulnerable populations, and represents a challenge to global food security. Althought honey is considered to be a relatively safe foodstuff with antifungal properties, the presence of some mycotoxin-producing fungi genera in honey indicates the need for regular analysis of microbiological characteristics. The objective of this study was to investigate honey used in Croatia from the mycological point of view, and thus contribute towards the knowledge on the genera of molds present in honey. In this study, 30 honey samples collected in various parts of Croatia during the period of 2012 -2017 were tested for the presence of yeasts and molds. The amount of yeasts found in honey samples ranged from 0.00 to 3.11 log cfu.g-1 of sample, with an average 1.58 log cfu.g-1, whereas mold count ranged from 0.00 to 2.26 log cfu.g-1. In 16 samples incompatible due to high mold count, 19 isolates representing nine genera of molds were found. The mycological identification showed that Cladosporium was the most frequent genus, followed by Penicillium and Alternaria, being found in 47.37 %, 10.53 % and 10.53 % samples, respectively. In addition, genera of Mucor, Aureobasidium, Acremonium, Botrytis, Stachybotrys and Paecylomyces were isolated in 5.26 % samples. The results showed that most of the molds identified in this study are commonly found in honey and represent natural honey mycobiota.

Fungal contamination ; Honey ; Microbiological analysis ; Molds ; Mycobiota

nije evidentirano