Fungi in air, raw materials and surface of dry fermented sausage produced in Brazil

Abstract The objective of this work was to evaluate fungi present in raw materials, surface of dry fermented sausage and air of production and maturation areas from the manufacturing plants. The samples were collected in two industries (A and B) located in Brazil, at 0, 7 and 14 days of production, in two occasions. With the exception of some spices, raw materials presented low contamination in both industries. From sausages surface, a wide fungal diversity was recovered, with emphasis on Aspergillus and Penicillium spp. Air contamination was high in both industries, countless (>10 4  CFU/m 3 ) in 2/14 of sampling from industry A and 8/14 from industry B. In industry B there was presence of Aspergillus westerdijkiae (an ochratoxigenic species harmful for the meat industry) both from sausages and manufacturing air. About half of species present in the air were also isolated from sausages. Since A. westerdijkiae has not been isolated from raw materials, a hard cleaning of environment, including dispersion in the air, would be essential for controlling this micro-organism and thus to prevent the contamination of new manufactured lots. Furthermore, environmental air can be considered a critical point regarding contamination of products and propagation of fungi in food processing areas.