Nour Fatema¹, Mrityunjoy Acharjee¹, Rashed Noor^1,

Present study conducted a complete investigation on microorganisms contaminating the imported apples commonly consumed in Dhaka metropolis, Bangladesh. Study of microbial prevalence demonstrated a substantial number of total viable bacteria (~10⁷ cfu/g) in each of the dissected portions, i. e., surface, body and core of the samples except for the body and core portion of Malus paulared (Paula Red). Among the specific pathogens, Staphylococcus spp. was found to be predominant within a range of 1.6×10⁵-2.8×10⁷ cfu/g, while Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Pseudomonas spp., Vibrio spp. and Listeria spp. were also identified. Fungal contamination (~10⁶ cfu/g) was observed only in the surface of each of the categories of apple samples tested. Study of antibiogram showed that most of the bacterial isolates were multi-drug resistant (MDR); however, study of antimicrobial activity showed that the Malus pumila (Golden delicious apple) samples possessed the anti-bacterial effect against Vibrio spp. Further studies employing the in vitro challenge test revealed a decline trend in the survival potential of spoiling bacteria in the apple samples tested.

apple, food quality, food safety microorganisms, microbial challenge test