Ice cream is a yummy, nutritious, nourishing frozen dairy food. It is noticed that generally manufacturing of ice cream on small scale production units like local shops doesn't totally follow the standard procedures of ice cream production. Contamination could be there in ice cream if some ingredients have been added after pasteurization or by means of improper sanitation of the equipment and environment. Microbiological quality of ice cream shows sanitary practice during production and is also an indication of food safety.
Ice cream is now the favorite and most popular diary food product especially among the children. It contains all the basic food components like carbohydrate, fats and protein, so it is a favorite media for microbes to grow. Another reason for microbial growth is the storage time of ice cream. An ice cream has prolonged storage time. Once it contaminated with microbes then freezing temperature and other parameters could not be enough to make the product safer later. At shops, unchecked storage temperature and extended storage time also affects the quality of ice-cream..
Food can be a major source of disease transmission if a person suffering from a disease is handling the food after pasteurization step, so proper knowledge of food safety is must food the handlers. In countries like UK, USA and China, there are standards for every foodstuff and are followed strictly. While in developing countries the major problem is the accessibility to pure and germ free water supply. Illnesses related to food are caused when someone ingest a food containing microbes or their toxins or other chemicals which can cause serious problems.
For this study 50 locally produced samples of ice cream in three different seasons (winter, spring and summer) were carried from different areas of Lahore via convenient sampling. Samples were transported to microbiology Lab of University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences and analyzed for the detection of Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus.
Each sample was processed for microbiological analysis for Total Staphylococcal Count (TSC) and detection of salmonella spp. Baired Parker agar was used to count S.aureus, Salmonella Shigella agar for Salmonella detection. Out of 50 samples collected in winter season 18 (36%) were positive for S.aureus and all these positive samples falls in unsatisfactory range. Out of 50 samples collected in spring season 22 (44%) were positive for S.aureus and all these positive samples falls in unsatisfactory range. Out of 50 samples collected in winter season 40 (80%) were positive for S.aureus and all these positive samples falls in unsatisfactory range.
Salmonella was not detected in any sample in three seasons.
This study shows that there is a strong relationship between environmental changes and growth of microorganism. With the change in season, percentage of positive samples also changes.