Qualidade microbiológica de formulações infantis para preparação de mamadeiras em um lactário de Maceió

Abstract

Infant milk formulas are an important source of nutrition for infants, as they depend on this food to grow and develop during the first year of life. However, a major concern arises when there are signs of contamination of these formulations by pathogenic microorganisms in hospital lactaries, thus putting the lives of infants at risk of infection and food poisoning. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the microbiological quality of milk formulations from a hospital lactary located in the city of Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil. For this, samples of different infant formulas (14 types) used in this lactary were collected during the years 2015 - 2020. From these samples, the presence of indicator microorganisms was evaluated: total andthermotolerant coliforms, Bacillus cereus, Salmonella spp. and Staphylococcus. The results obtained showed that in this lactary there is a certain lack of hygiene control, probably during the process of handling the formulations, since certain samples were outside the microbiological standards for coliforms and Bacillus cereus. As for Salmonella spp. and Stapylococcus, the lactary seems to meet the standard hygiene conditions, since the level of contamination is within the microbiological standards for these two microorganisms. Thus, it is possible to conclude that in this lactary the lack of adequate care may be contributing to the presence of pathogenic microorganisms in infant formulas, with regard to coliforms and Bacillus cereus. It is necessary for the hospital in question to contribute more rigorously to the preparation of these formulations, so that infants do not have their health compromised.