Microbiological Quality of Wheat Grain and Flour from Two Mills in Queensland, Australia

Abstract

A baseline investigation of the microbiological quality of wheat grain and flour from two mills in Queensland, Australia, was undertaken in order to assess the capacity of these two mills to meet microbiological criteria specified by a customer for raw, non-heat-treated flour. This baseline testing was performed over the 2006 to 2007 wheat season. Three hundred fifty flour samples were monitored for yeast, mold, and Bacillus cereus, 300 for Escherichia coli, 150 for Salmonella, and 100 for aerobic plate count. Fifty grain samples were analyzed for yeast, mold, E. coli, Salmonella, and B. cereus. There was a single isolation of Salmonella Give in unscreened wheat. The yeast, mold, E. coli, and B. cereus prevalences were 56, 40, 2.0, and 4.0% for grain and 71, 17, 0.7, and <0.3% for flour, respectively. Of the positive samples, the means were 3.7, 2.7, 0.6, and 2.1 for grain, and 3.0, 2.8, and 0.8 log CFU/g for flour. The mean of the aerobic plate count was 4.2 log CFU/g with a 95th percentile count of 4.6 log CFU/g. A microbiological quality baseline of wheat grain and flour from these two Queensland mills has been determined. These data in a specific sense assist the two mills to assess their capacity to meet microbiological criteria, and in a general sense provide at least a limited snapshot of Queensland wheat and flour quality for risk assessments being carried out to evaluate the safety of plant and plant products.

Effect of saline organic acid solutions applied during soft wheat tempering on microbial load and flour functionality

“…APC, aerobic plate count; Eb, Enterobacteriaceae. These trends in microbial load distribution among different milled fractions are in agreement with those reported by Berghofer et al (2003) and Eglezos (2010). Values are the average of three independent replicates.…”

“…Therefore, wheat grain entering the milling system may carry a wide and varied microbiota (Berghofer, Hocking, Miskelly, & Jansson, 2003;Eglezos, 2010;Sabillón, Stratton, Rose, Regassa, & Bianchini, 2016). Therefore, wheat grain entering the milling system may carry a wide and varied microbiota (Berghofer, Hocking, Miskelly, & Jansson, 2003;Eglezos, 2010;Sabillón, Stratton, Rose, Regassa, & Bianchini, 2016).…”

Microbiological Quality of Wheat Cultivated in Many Different Regions of Iraq

“…However, other fields such as Babel field and the rural field in Al Qadisiyah had high possibility to get higher than the limitation. In comparison with other studies, Eglezos [14] mentioned that the mean and maximum number of yeast and molds of wheat taken from two mills were 2.5 *10 6 cfu/g and 1.9 *10 9 respectively, which are higher than the yeast and molds of this study and the limitation approved by FDA. For E. coli, they did not find it for most samples, but the maximum number was 4 cfu/g.…”

From Field to Table: A Review on the Microbiological Quality and Safety of Wheat‐Based Products

“…Eyles et al (1989) found yeast-mold counts on the order of 4.2 log CFU/g in Australian wheat. More recently, in another Australian wheat survey, Eglezos (2010) reported mean counts of 3.7 and 2.7 log CFU/g for yeast and mold, respectively. In a 2001 North American survey, the yeast-mold counts found in durum wheat samples as received from growers, farm bins, and elevators ranged from 1.4 to 5.0 log CFU/g, with an average of 3.3 log CFU/g (Manthey et al 2004).…”

“…Coliforms and generic E. coli species are commonly used as hygiene and safety indicators in many food industries to assess the microbiological safety of processing environments and foods. In 1992, Salmonella Havana was isolated from wheat grain in Queensland, Australia (Eglezos 2010). Indeed, these microorganisms have been found in wheat flour (Richter et al 1993;Berghofer et al 2003;Sperber 2007;Aydin et al 2009), for which high levels may indicate unhygienic processing or handling and the potential presence of fecally transmitted pathogens.…”