Abstract
Fifty samples from five baby food products mainly made of cereal flour(s) were analyzed. The moisture contents of these products were between 11.14% and 11.9%, a level below 14.0%, the recommended level for safe storage of cereal grains and their products. The mycological analysis was carried out using the dilution plate method and two isolation media (DG18 for isolation of xerophilic fungi and DRBC for fungi in general). A total of 80 species related to 37 genera in addition to some unidentified fungal and yeast species were recorded on both media from the five products. The products were contaminated abundantly by xerophilic fungi which were occurring in 88% of food samples and accounting for 18.1% of the total CFU as recorded on DG18. The highest contamination level by xerophiles was registered in Mwebaza rice porridge (a component of rice flour) and the lowest in Mukuza (a product of maize, soyabean and sorghum flours). 11 xerophilic species were recorded of which <em>Aspergillus</em> and <em>Eurotium</em> (4 species each) were the predominant giving rise to 9.1% and 8.9% of the total CFU, with <em>A. wentii, A. candidus, E. cristatum</em> and E. repens were the most contaminating species. Of the fungi recorded other than xerophiles, species of Aspergillus (particularly <em>A. flavus</em> followed by <em>A. niger</em>), <em>Penicillium (P. citrinum, P. oxalicum), Fusarium (F. solani, F. tricinctum), Cladosporium (C. sphaerospermum)</em> and yeasts were the most predominant. Contamination of such foods is a matter of health hazard as these foods are for babies. So, the use of fresh, well-dried and uncontaminated flours for production of such foods is recommended.
Highlights
Baby foods rich in carbohydrates and proteins are being produced from dried cereal and leguminous grains/seeds
Baby foods locally manufactured in Uganda were abundantly contaminated by xerophilic fungi which occurred in 88% of food samples and accounted for 18.08% of the total CFU as recovered on DG18 (Tab. 2)
These high contamination levels with xerophiles indicate that the baby foods may have stayed in shops and supermarkets for a long time where they might have been invaded by storage fungi
Summary
Baby foods rich in carbohydrates and proteins are being produced from dried cereal and leguminous grains/seeds. A variety of yeasts are common on cereal grains and flour (Kurtzman et al 1970; Aran, Eke 1987; Pitt, Hocking 2009) Other ingredients such as powders of soya beans, milk, dried fish and fruits were found to be contaminated with a wide variety of fungal species (Mislivec, Bruce 1977; Sutic et al 1979; Bullerman 1979; Jarchovska et al 1980; Ito, Abu 1985; Pitt et al 1994; Ismail, Saad 1997; Pitt, Hocking 2009)
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