Authors: Kilonzo-Nthenge, Agnes¹; Chen, Fur-Chi¹; Godwin, Sandria L.²

Source: Journal of Food Protection®, Volume 71, Number 3, March 2008 , pp. 608-612(5)

Publisher: International Association for Food Protection

Abstract:

Consumers' refrigeration practices have a significant impact on the safety and quality of foods. To determine the prevalence and the identity of microorganisms in domestic refrigerators, swab samples were taken from various locations in the refrigerators from 137 households in middle Tennessee. The swabs were inoculated into different media, and standard procedures were used to characterize the isolates. API 20E and API Listeria were used for identification of Enterobacteriaceae and Listeria spp., respectively. The Kirby-Bauer technique was used to test resistance of the isolates. Actual counts for aerobic and Enterobacteriaceae ranged from not detected to 8.53 and 8.39 log CFU per sample, respectively. Klebsiella pneumoniae (23.4%), Klebsiella oxytoca (6.8%), Klebsiella terrigena (4.0%), Enterobacter sakazakii (2.2%), and Yersinia enterocolitica (0.7%) were some of the bacteria of concern that were isolated from domestic refrigerators. Resistance to antibiotics was most common in erythromycin (39.9%), followed by ampicillin (33.8%), cefoxitin (12.8%), tetracycline (5%), streptomycin (4.0%), nalidixic acid (2.1%), kanamycin (1.4%), and colistin (0.7%). None of the isolates tested was resistant to ciprofloxacin or gentamycin. Listeria spp. were also detected in six refrigerators. These findings underline the need for greater consumer education regarding proper refrigerator cleaning and safe food handling practices.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Research, Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee 37209-1561, USA 2: Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Research, Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee 37209-1561, USA; Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee 37209-1561, USA

Publication date: 2008-03-01

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  First published in 1937, the Journal of Food Protection^®, is a refereed monthly publication. Each issue contains scientific research and authoritative review articles reporting on a variety of topics in food science pertaining to food safety and quality. The Journal is internationally recognized as the leading publication in the field of food microbiology with a readership exceeding 11,000 scientists from 70 countries. The Journal of Food Protection^® is indexed in Index Medicus, Current Contents, BIOSIS, PubMed, Medline, and many others.
  
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