EVALUATION OF BACTERIAL AND FUNGAL LOAD IN FRESH, FROZEN AND DRIED FOOD MUSHROOMS

The analysis carried out by Doores et al. (1) and Venturini et al. (2) on the total bacterial load tested in wild and cultivated fresh mushrooms highlight values ranging between 3.7 and 9.3 log ufc/g. Due to the absence of pathogens, the microbiological quality of mushrooms analysed by the above-mentioned authors has been considered good. On the basis of data reported in literature we have also extended the observations with frozen and dried mushrooms in order to evaluate the mesophilous bacterial and fungal load. In particular the presence/absence of Escherichia coli (Migula,1895) Castellani & Chalmers, 1919, Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes (Murray et al.1926) Pirie 1940 was…