Lalitha Ch.; International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology © 2019, www.IJARIIT.com All Rights Reserved Page |1514 ISSN: 2454-132X Impact factor: 4.295 (Volume 5, Issue 2) Available online at: www.ijariit.com Contamination of refrigerator is a threat for infections Dr. Ch. Lalitha microblalitha@gmail.com Dr. V. S. Krishna Govt. Degree and P.G College, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh ABSTRACT Food that we eat may be perishable, semi-perishable and non-perishable. People generally use the refrigerator to store the perishable and semi-perishable food items. But during long time preservations without recalling may lead to the development of microbial contamination. Raw vegetables and fruits also play a major role in the spread of bacteria, fungi, and parasites. This may further lead to foodborne illness which is a threat to human infections. Cross contamination is also possible between the contaminated foods and fresh foods. Proper cleaning and maintenance reduce the bacteria as well as fungal load. Therefore, the monitoring of microbiota in the refrigerator is important for food safety. Keywords— Refrigerator, Contamination, Food Infections, Cleaning and Food Safety 1. INTRODUCTION Refrigeration is the most widely used method to prevent foods for some time. Mostly the perishable foods are kept for refrigeration to control the microbial contamination at 4-50C. (1, 2) Refrigeration not only minimizes the contamination of foods but also the chemical and enzymatic spoilage of food by retarding the growth of microbes (3). There are certain studies which proved that the perishable foods even preserved at refrigeration temperature also undergo spoilage (4). The food spoilage depends on the type of storage container or wrapping material. Several other factors related to the food stored also influence the rate of spoilage (5). Most of the time inside the refrigerator (excluding the freezer) the temperature is about 7 0 C which is called as sub-freezing temperature (6). This enables the maintenance of moisture and favours the growth of bacteria, molds and yeasts (7). The bacteria from uncleansed vegetables, fruits, milk packets, curd boxes, from wrapped foods directly purchased from the market such as cheese, jam, butter, ginger-garlic paste and so on grow spread to the other food materials inside the refrigerator. Long term preservation of these products leads to long term contamination (8, 9). The growth of fungi and bacteria rapidly increases leading to food and waterborne illness (10). Even the parasitic infestations caused by Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia also are possible due to the improper maintenance of the refrigerator (11, 12).Bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogens, Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium botulinum, Yersinia enterocolitica (13). Microbial contaminations of refrigerators have been studied because refrigerators are used to store food (14). Moisture and nutrients (food particles) in refrigerators provide favorable growth conditions for contaminating bacteria from unwashed raw foods, leaking packages, and hands. In particular, higher bacterial counts and temperatures in vegetable compartments could cause critical problems [15]. Recently, a German outbreak caused by Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli O104: H4 illustrated that unwashed vegetables could be a risk element [16]. Therefore, the study of bacterial contamination in the vegetable compartments of refrigerators is important for public health. Most of the previously reported culture-dependent studies of kitchen and refrigerator microbes focused on pathogen detection [17]. The recent advent of next-generation sequencing techniques provides unprecedented data on the microbial composition, and the ecology of various environments, including indoor spaces [18]. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS Samples were obtained from the refrigerator in the existing condition and after proper cleaning. 2.1 Samples obtained in the existing condition 2.1.1 The sampling procedure: Total of 200 samples were collected from 50 refrigerators (only at houses). Samples were obtained from all parts of the refrigerator (not the food samples) using sterile swabs dipped in saline solution. The swabs were dissolved first in sterile peptone water and then inoculated on different culture media.