Prevalence of bacterial contamination in orange and apple juices and correlation with some other factors in Shahrekord, 1385.

Fruit juices are becoming an important part of the modern diet among many communities. These juices can be contaminated with bacterial pathogens, leading to different gastrointestinal infections. This study was aimed to assess the prevalence of bacterial contamination in orange and apple juices and its correlation with some other factors. In this descriptive–analytical study, 360 apple and orange juice samples produced of three internal factories with less than six and more than six months of production were examined microbiologically, from august to december 2006 in Shahrekord. Data were analyzed by SPSS software, using Chi –square test. We found a rate of 4.4% contaminated fruit juices with a mean total isolated bacterial count (TBC) of 1.45 x cfu/ml. Isolated Bacteria included Staphylococcus epidermidis in 10 (62.5%), Staphylococcus aurous in 3 (19%), Bacillus subtilis in 2 (12.5%) and Bacillus cereus in 1 (6%) samples. Data analyses revealed no significant difference between contaminated samples and kind of fruit juices or factories (P>0.05). However, a statistically significant difference was detected between contaminated samples and production time (P<0.01). Based on our findings, we recommend consuming these products within six months of manufacturing as well as improving the maintenance and transporting conditions.