Detection system for escherichia coli petrifilmTM in cheese mines frescal packaged vacuum

Abstract

Minas cheese is a food widely consumed in Brazil, very perishable and susceptible to contamination. This study aimed to detect the presence of E. coli by Petrifilm technique in vacuum packed products. The results were satisfactory, since the E. coli count only two units, 6.6% of the samples showed higher score than allowed by law, 63.3%, nineteen samples showed negative score and 30%, nine units had E. coli count within the allowable value. Already total coliforms also detectable by PetrifilmTM system showed a worrying result as the sanitary conditions in the manufacture of cheese, where 43.3%, thirteen samples showed high colony count and 56.7%, seventeen samples were negative. With these results it is concluded that despite efforts to maintain the quality, there are still flaws in the manufacturing process, stressing the need to control all critical control points in the industry as well as effective monitoring system.