MICROBIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF CREAMY "DOCE DE LEITE"

Abstract

Doce de leite is a milk derivative that has high consumption in Brazil and South American countries. Due to the addition of sucrose and the high concentration of dairy solids, not only the rheological aspects of the product came to be admired by the South Americans, but also its economic and nutritional importance. The association the popular flavor to the nutritional benefits of milk and a longer shelf life, also provides the distribution of the product without the need for refrigeration. Although industrialized, Brazilian doce de leite is not standardized having many differences between brands and batches. In order to assess the incidence of bacterial and fungal contaminants in doce de leite, aliquots of three different batches of eight brands with SIF, produced in different states of Brazil and sold in Juiz de Fora (MG) were analyzed to assess the viability of microorganisms such as aerobic mesophils, coliforms at 30ºC and 45ºC, yeasts and molds, coagulase positive staphylococci, besides the research of Salmonella sp. and Listeria monocytogenes. Aerobic mesophils, molds, yeasts and coagulase negative staphylococci were recovered. The results showed that despite the creamy doce de leite having low water activity, it can allow microbial growth during storage.