The effect of seasons on the health and microbial contamination of creamy pastries in Isfahan

Food quality control after production is considered very essential for the consumers’ health. Among the foods, creamy pastries are much more important because of their high demand and consumption, high humidity and the possibility of secondary contamination. In this research, therefore, the microbial quality of creamy pastries was evaluated in order to enhance public health, reduce the complications of food-borne diseases and treatment costs. In this cross-sectional study, creamy pastries samples were randomly collected in summer and winter. Then, some food poisoning bacteria mold and yeast, and enterobacteriacea were evaluated in samples according to the Iranian national standards methods. Finally, the data were statistically analyzed using SPSS version 16 (T- test). In the samples under study, the lowest and highest levels of contamination were related to salmonella (0%) and yeast (48%) respectively. 38% of the sweets were emerged as non-consumable due to enterobacteriacea and 8% for Escherichia coli. The percentage of mold and Staphylococcus aureus was 18% and 40%, respectively. Among the microbes under study, the effects of the season were only statistically significant in relation to Escherichia coli in summer and Staphylococcus aureus in winter. As the findings revealed, there should be more effort to apply the principles of personal and environmental hygiene, along with paying more attention to the safety of the raw materials, and increasing food handlers’ awareness and more supervision in the food supply centers.