Screening of Mycoflora Infesting on Some North Indian Fast Food

Usha Singh¹, A. Kabir¹, A. Sonia² and N. K. Singh³

¹Department of Botany, Govt. Bilasa Girl’s P.G. College, Bilaspur India.

²Department of Microbiology, Govt. J.P. Verma Arts and Commerce P.G. College, Bilaspur India.

³Department of Botany E.R.R., Science P.G. College, Bilaspur India.

ABSTRACT: A number of fast food items are commonly sold on road-sides of Indian cities and their sub-urbs. During present investigation, mycoflora of four fast food items viz., chat, samosa, dahibada and panipuri have been studied. In comparison to PDA, Czapec-dox medium supplemented with casein hydrolysate, yeast extract, peptone and vitamin mixture was found to be more suitable for isolation of fungi. From the period from January, 2010 to June, 2010 altogether 11, 9, 7 and 10 fungal species were isolated from chat, samosa, dahibada and panipuri, respectively. The fungal species were Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A. fumigatus, A. nidulans, A. spp., Penecillium spp., Nigrospora spp., Trichoderma spp., Chaetomium spp., Phoma spp., Rhizopus spp., Alternaria spp. and Mycelia sterilia. In all the food items, the mycoflora was dominated by Aspergilli, Penicillium spp., Chaetomium, Alternaria and Rhizopus spp. On average 37.5 percent of total fungi on the four fast food was represented by different species of Aspergillus. Penicillium spp. was 13.00 percent while Rhizopus spp. contributed about 9.00 percent of total fungi, while contribution of Alternaria was approximately 11.00 percent.

KEYWORDS: Fast Food; Mycoflora; Contamination; Unhygienic; Hand-carts; Nutrients

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