Abstract

GIL, Alexander; MORON DE SALIM, Alba  and  GAESRTE, Yosainix. Microbiological quality of fruits that have edible peels sold at popular markets of the Valencia and San Diego Municipalities, Carabobo State, Venezuela. Rev. Soc. Ven. Microbiol. [online]. 2010, vol.30, n.1, pp.24-28. ISSN 1315-2556.

Fruits constitute a group of indispensable nutrients for the health and wellbeing of individuals. We evaluated the microbiological quality of fruits with edible peels (strawberries, guavas and peaches) sold at popular markets in Valencia and San Diego, Carabobo State, Venezuela. We determined the number of CFU/g of mesophilic aerobics (MA), total and fecal coliforms (TC, FC) and Salmonella spp. according to COVENIN guidelines. Most of the MA counts obtained were high in most fruits. The contamination levels by these microorganisms were found to be between 1.4x10⁵ and 6.6x10¹⁰ CFU/g. The counts found for TC were generally lower than those for MA, and occurred in amounts of between 2.6x10³ and 7.2x10¹⁰ CFU/g. The presence of FC and Salmonella spp. was not detected in the samples evaluated. Of the fruits studied, strawberries were the ones which showed the highest microbiological contamination degree both by MA and TC. The absence of TC and Salmonella spp. suggests that the conditions to which the fruits were submitted during the pre and post harvest period apparently were within the permissible limits of sanitary quality.

Keywords : enteropathogenic bacteria; fruits; microbiologic quality; sanitary quality; contamination.