TITLE:
Comparison between E. coli O157:H7 and Bifidobacterium spp. Activity in Almond Pudding Infant Supplemental Food
AUTHORS:
Rashin Sedighi, Mehrdad Tajkarimi, Salam A. Ibrahim
KEYWORDS:
Escherichia coli O157:H7, Bifidobacterium spp., Infant Complementary Food
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.2 No.9,
November
7,
2011
ABSTRACT: Almond pudding is a common traditional Iranian complementary food for infants after starting solid foods. Escherichia coli O157:H7 is one of the leading pathogenic microorganisms that cause serious foodborne disease in different populations including infants. The large intestine of breast-fed infants is colonized predominantly by bifidobacteria, which have a protective effect against acute diarrhea. The study objective of this research was to screen the survival characteristics of E. coli O157:H7 as well as four strains of Bifidobacterium subspecies (spp.) in almond pudding. The bacterial strains were studied after three and six hours of incubation at 37℃ in-vitro. Luria-Bertani (LB) broth was used as a basic medium for both Bifidobacterium spp. and E. coli experiments in anaerobic and aerobic conditions, respectively. The viability of Bifidobacterium spp. increased from 2.46 ± 0.2 to 6.57 ±1.3 log10 CFU/ml in low inoculum and from 4.53 ± 0.7 to 7.2 ± 0.4 in high inoculum experiments in 6 hours. However, the growth of E. coli O157:H7 from 3.12 ± 0.2 to 4.99 ± 0.1 log10 CFU/ml was significantly (P