Effect of storage on the micro biological quality of infant foods in western U.P.

Human milk offers an ideal balance of nutrients and also contain a rich supply of productive factors which human infant requires. Every parent heed about their health and feeding the best source of babies feeding in their mother's milk. But in few cases some mothers are unable to breast feeds and other choose not be breast feed or choose to combine breast feeding with bottle feeding. Temperature of storage and relative humidity also play a significant role in infant foods. At high humidity [80 to 100%RH] a rapid fall in the number of bacteria was observed followed by over growth of yeast and mould. The present study was also based on the microbiological examination of infant foods and 100 samples were collected from different locations of Meerut district in the year 2009–10. There are eight brands of infant milk food and three brands of infant weaning food which were collected within a month of manufacture and subjected to microbiological examination and all collected samples were analysed at 37°C and 7°C on holding time 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 months in the laboratory. It was observed that the reduction of organisms such as coliform, B.cereus and total bacterial count was higher reduced while, staphylococcal was detected a little reduction after 8 month holding at 37°C and showed a very less reduction in 8 months at 7°C. It is further concluded that low count should not be taken as the only criterion for the acceptable quality of infant foods. Type of incriminating organisms and their toxic metabolites are also important factors affecting the safety of such high risk food.