Microbiological Contamination Levels in the Processing of Korea Rice Cakes

This study was conducted to evaluate microbial contamination levels of Korea traditional rice cakes such as Sirutteok, Garaetteok and Gyeongdan in the manufacturing process and environment. The microbial contamination levels such as total aerobic bacteria, fungi, coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacil- lus cereus and Clostridium perfringens of rice cake products were analyzed. The contamination levels of total aerobic bacteria, coliforms, fungi and B. cereus in raw materials were in the range of 2.4~4.5, ND~1.9, 1.2~2.1 and 1.0~2.1 log CFU/g, respectively. The microbial contamination levels of total aerobic bacteria, coliforms, fungi and B. cereus in manufacturing process of rice cakes were increased in the soaking and grinding steps and were decreased in steaming step. E. coli, S. aureus and C. perfringens were not detected in any manufacturing process and environment. The microbial contamination levels of raw materials and final products of rice cake were suitable for microbial safety standard in Korea. However, the manufacturing environment such as equipments and employee's sanitation were in trouble for microbial safety. The results of this study suggest that safety education for personal hygiene and safety management in processing environment are continuously required to assure safety in working environment and employee's individual hygiene.