Isolation And Identification of Fungi from Packed and Unpacked Milk, Corn Flour and Soya Bean

Fungi spoiling organisms are silently invading, acidifying, fermenting, discoloring, and disintegrating microbes that render food products unpalatable and unsafe for human consumption. This study aimed at isolation and identification of fungi from packed and unpacked milk, corn flour and soya bean. These samples were randomly purchased from vendors in Ekeonuwa market, Owerri and were analyzed using standard microbiological techniques. The findings of this study showed the presence of fungi contamination in these food products except for packed milk which had no fungi growth. The packed corn flour had a total fungi count of 3.1 x 104 Cfu/g, while soya bean flour had a total fungi count of 2.9 x 104 Cfu/g. However, the unpacked milk had a total fungus count of 3.2 x 105 cfu/g, corn flour had 3.7 x 105 cfu/g and soya bean had 3.0 x 105 cfu/g. Four genera of fungi were identified which are; Aspergillus, Rhizopus, Mucor and Penicillium. These fungi had various percentage occurrences. Aspergillus spp. was found to have the highest percentage occurrence of 35.7%, Penicillium spp. had 28.6%, Rhizopus spp. had 21.4% while Fusarium spp. had the least percentage of 14.3%. The recovery of these fungi from this research shows that there is fear of consumption of mycotoxins because of their serious health implication, as they can be highly toxic and carcinogenic, thus rendering the food products unfit for human and animal consumption.