A systematic review of microbial agents of traditional ice cream in Iran from 2012 to 2021

Considering the role and importance of food in food security and as the ice cream is one of the daily food items between children and adolescents, and due to the presence of nutrients in it, it is an appropriate environment for the growth of many pathogens. Ice creams products are mainly contaminated with germs during production and storage and can cause infections in children, the elderly, and immunocompromised patients.  Therefore, strict hygienic supervision and control of production, distribution, supply, and use of pasteurized milk in the preparation of this product are required. The primary purpose of this review article is to investigate the problem of pathogenic bacteria in traditional ice cream and describe the main features of these bacteria and the diseases caused by them. In this review study, first, the keywords of traditional ice cream, microbial contamination, the names of some food-eating bacteria in the ice cream were searched in reputable databases such as GoogleScholar, Irandoc, Magiran, Elsevier, Science Direct, Pub Med. After reading the summary and the text of articles, dissertations, or papers presented at conferences, 14 related articles from 2012 to 2021 were selected. This study showed that the most important pathogenic bacteria of ice cream include: Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms, Listeria monocytogenes, Enterococcus. Therefore, by recognizing pathogens and the ways of their transmission and finally applying control and monitoring methods, it can play an influential role in improving the health quality and reducing bacterial contamination of traditional ice cream.