THE ROLE OF MICROBIOTA AND THE TECHNOLOGICAL BASIS OF MICROBIOLOGICAL SAFETY OF FOOD PRODUCTS AND ANIMAL FEEDS

The microbiota of food products and animal feed not only ensures the safety of these products, but also significantly impacts the health and longevity of people who consume them. In animals, it influences their health, productivity, the quality of livestock products, and the profitability of the agribusiness. Therefore, during the production, transportation, and storage of feed ingredients and animal feeds, it is critically important to control quality indicators, especially microbiological safety, and to adhere to hygienic conditions at all stages of production, transportation, storage, and subsequent use of feeds. A key role in ensuring the satisfactory health of humans and animals is played by the microbiota, which populates specific areas of the digestive tract and forms the microbiome. Today, many scientists view the microbiome as another organ of living organisms. Recent studies show that the mass of the microbiome constitutes 0.3% of the living organism's body mass. Despite its small mass, the microbiome plays a leading role in the vital functions of living organisms. A healthy microbiota positively contributes to digestion, nutrient assimilation, immunity support, and protection from pathogens. To ensure its development and maintenance, it is essential to enrich the diet with balanced prebiotic products, which helps to maintain a diverse and stable microbiome as a foundation for robust health and the prevention of many diseases. Therefore, the further improvement of food product quality and safety, and the efficiency of animal, poultry, and fish farming, lies in implementing hygiene measures in the production of animal feeds and establishing a healthy microbiota in animals. This is because this link in the "farm-to-fork" food production chain currently has the fewest measures to prevent microbiological contamination of feed raw materials and animal feeds. During the research, 151 samples of animal feed were analyzed. The samples were collected from feed mills in various geographical and climatic zones of Ukraine. The results of the bacteriological culture on appropriate nutrient media and microscopy showed that the microbial contamination of the samples ranged from 1.5×103 to 1×105 CFU/g. No Salmonella was detected in the finished feed samples. However, the most microbiologically contaminated areas of each of the studied feed mills were identified. The receiving device for grain raw materials and oilseed meals was found to be the most contaminated, with levels ranging from 3.5×106 to 4.0×107 CFU/g. An elevated level of microbiological contamination was observed in samples from feed deposits in the equipment after thermal treatment. In samples taken from the floors of the production facilities, an increased level of contamination by microorganisms was detected (8×105 CFU/g) compared to the finished feed, where it did not exceed 1.2–1.8×104 CFU/g. This indicates the necessity of implementing a system of microbiological hygiene measures at the feed mills.