Microbiological quality of ready-to-eat foods of Tehran province

Recontamination of ready-to-eat (RTE) products during post-processing may be the cause of outbreaks of food-borne disease. In this study, a total of 150 RTE samples were obtained for bacteriological examination (coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, Bacillus cereus, Psychrotrophic bacteria and Psychrophilic bacteria). Various types of RTE food products that contained frozen (cooked and semi-cooked) and refrigerated (cooked) poultry meat foods, were purchased randomly periodically in January and March, 2012. 65% of cooked samples and 62% of semi cooked samples contain more than 102 CFU/g coliform, while S. aureus was more than 102 CFU/g in 35 and 40% of samples, respectively. Also 28% of cooked samples and 44% of semi cooked samples contained E. coli. 14% of all samples were contaminated by Salmonella. The results for enumeration of B. cereus, psychrophilic and psychrotrophic microorganisms were: 2/96 ± 0/09 log CFU/g, 5/02 ± 1/77 log CFU/g and 3/05±0/04 log CFU/g, respectively.   Key words: Foodborne pathogens, coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, Bacillus cereus, psychrotrophic bacteria, psychrophilic bacteria, cooked, semi-cooked.