Microbial contamination of traditional ice creams in Rafsanjan, Iran

Ice cream is a frozen dairy product that is made of suitable milk, sugar and flavoring agents. It easily contaminated and causes food poisoning. Since it harbors many bacterial pathogens, its microbial quality has always been crucially important to public health. The aim of this study, conducted to screen some selected national and international brands of ice cream include Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli in Rafsanjan city, Iran. All producing and distributing of traditional ice creams were screened. The samples were collected in hygienic conditions. 40 samples of traditional ice creams were obtained randomly from the retail stores. All the samples were analyzed for microbial contaminations such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus according to the Iran national standard No. 2406. The results showed that 30 Samples (75%) with Enterobacteriaceae, 6 cases (15%) with Escherichia coli and 2 cases (5%) with Staphylococcus aureus were contaminated and thus contamination of traditional ice creams was notable. However, pasteurization of ice-cream raw materials with sufficient heat, regarding health principles in several stages of producing and preparing health materials and controlling ice cream producing and distributing centers are necessary to decrease contamination. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.257417