Prevalence of psychrotrophic bacteria in kulfi sold in Chennai market

Twenty four samples of kulfi, eight from each of the following sources viz. road side, small shops and organised sectors, were collected aseptically and subjected to estimation of total count, coliform count and psychrotrophic count to determine the microbiological quality of kulfi sold in Chennai. The level of psychrotrophic count was found to be more in road side local vendor samples (1.8 x 10³ cfu/g) followed by that of samples of small scale producers (1.01 x 10³ cfu/g) and branded samples from organised sector (3.5 x 10² cfu/g). Road side local vendor samples contributed 56.90% of organisms to the psychrotrophic count, followed by small scale producers (32.03%), while organised sector contributed the least (11.07%). Pseudomonas fluorescens was found to have greater proteolytic and lipolytic effect when compared with the activity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas putrifaciens. The mean total count and coliform count were found to be maximum in road side local vendor samples followed by samples of small scale producers The microbial quality of most of the kulfi samples needs to be improved in order to avoid any food poisoning and to safeguard the health of the consumers.