ScienceAsia 2 (1976): 176-184 |doi: 10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.1976.02.176

STUDIFS ON THE POPULATION OF TOXIGENIC FUNGI IN MARKET FOODS AND FOODSTUFFS.
I. MYCOFLORA CONTAMINATION

T. GLINSUKON, W. THAMAVIT* and M. RUCHIRAWAT

Summary: The fungi of 121 market foods and foodstuffs in Bangkok collected during March.June, 1975 were examined. The fungi were found in 97 (80.2 %) out of 121 samples whereas 24 (19.8%) did not yield any fungi. Of the 97 fungal positive samples, 58 (47.9 %) samples were contaminated in the range of 76-100 % of the total number of cultured samples in each plate. The total number of 435 fungi, which involve more than 10 genera, were isolated. The major genera were Aspergillus (58.2 %), Rhizopus (13.3 %), Penicillium (13.0 %) and Fusarium (3.7 %). Other genera such as Helminthosporium (2.3 %), Mucor (1.8 %), Cladosporium (1.2 %), Cephalosporium (1.2 %), Heterosporium (0.5 %), Alternaria (0.5 %), Curularia (0. 2%) and unidentified strains (2.3 %) were frequently isolated. Most of samples were contaminated with Aspergillus, except rice and beans were also contaminated with Penicillium and Fusarium respectively. Aspergillus flavus (33.2 %), Aspergillus niger (24.1 %) and Aspergillus ochraceous (17.4 %) were prevalent among 253 isolates of Aspergillus. Penicillium citrinum (28.1 %) and Penicillium notatum (J 2.3 %) were the major isolates found among Penicillium. On the basis of these results, its high incidence of fungal contamination suggests that most of market foods and foodstuffs, especially peanuts and corn, had not been kept under suitable storage condition.

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Department of Physiology and Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok

Received 18 October 1976