Incidence of spoilage fungi in the air of bakeries with different hygienic status

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the level of adequacy of bakeries to the requirements of good manufacturing practices (GMP) and the fungal contamination of the environmental air of these places, verifying the existence of a correlation between both. The checklist present in Ordinance No 78/2009 of good practices based on the current legislation was used to evaluate GMP adequacy and the contamination of environmental air was determined through the air sampling method. After the application of the checklist, it was observed that 75% (n = 15) of the bakeries evaluated were classified into group 2 (good) and 25% (n = 5) as group 3 (regular). On the other hand, only five (25%) and three (15%) bakeries presented values below of 300 CFU/m3 for the fungal contamination of air in food cooling and exposure areas, respectively. Fungi isolated from these areas were mainly species commonly reported as potential spoilers of bakery products. This study revealed that in spite of the evaluated bakeries presenting conditions considered “good” by the GMP, they presented, in most cases, high counts of fungi in the cooling and exposition areas for ready products. Only a weak correlation was found between the items of GMP and the load of airborne fungi present in the bakeries. More attention should be directed to hygienic aspects related to the microbiological quality of the air of bakeries, since these micro-organisms could contaminate the surface of freshly baked products, compromising the final quality of these foods, as well as prompt its early deterioration.