It has recently been recognized that some commercial infant formulae have, due to spoilage and pathogen microorganisms, which are detected risks to health, been recalled and reported in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed on notification lists. The risk of microbial contamination from the environment or from the addition of ingredients to cereal-based follow-on formulae (FOF) and powdered infant foods (PIF) products could occur under poor hygienic conditions. This project was designed to evaluate the associated risks of Cronobacter sakazakii, Salmonella, Total Coliform, E. coli, E. coli O157:H7, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus cereus and Ochratoxin-A in PIF, FOF and rice flour products marketed in Turkey. Seventy-four baby formulae and thirteen rice flour trademarks obtained in 2018 randomly from different markets in Samsun, Kars, and Adana in Turkey. Salmonella, C. sakazakii, Coliform, S. aureus, L. monocytogenes and Bacillus cereus were analyzed using the ISO 6579:2002, ISO/TS 22964:2006, MPN, FDA (2001), FDA (1998) and FDA (2012) methods, respectively. C. sakazakii was isolated from 7/74 FOF products and 4/13 rice flour products, yielding 12.64% prevalence. Salmonella, S. aureus and L. monocytogenes were not detected in any of the samples. The FOF products, including cereals of different origins and one rice flour sample (7.69%), were found to be contaminated with B. cereus (6.76%) and B. subtilis (5.41%). OTA values were found to be above the legal limits in 4.05% (3/74) FOF products. These results suggest that routine quality controls and hazard and risk analysis for infant foods have to be much more rigorous in terms of the potential risk of microbiological contamination.
Evaluation of Food Safety of Commercial Baby Foods according to Legal Regulations
