Food Safety Knowledge of Cheese Consumers

The aim of this study was to evaluate habits and practices of cheese consumers toward their level of knowledge of food safety. A total of 1000 people were interviewed in several cities of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Five hundred thirty-eight (53.8%) people consume cheese daily, while 318 (31.8%) and 144 (14.4%) consume cheese weekly and monthly, respectively. Five hundred twenty-two (52%) people reported its usage as an ingredient used in the preparation of other dishes, while 320 (32%) of the interviewed people consume cheese directly as a part of the diet. Typical Brazilian cheeses such as "Minas Frescal" and "Prato" cheese are preferred by 528 (52.8%) of the consumers. Of the total consumers, 764 (76.4%) purchase cheese from supermarkets, while 236 (23.6%) from open-air markets. Inspected cheese is purchased by 350 (35%) consumers, while 650 (65%) buy it without knowing if they were submitted to previous fiscalization. Four hundred thirty (43%) consumers do not know any disease transmitted by cheese that has not been inspected. Overall, educational campaigns must be developed by the Sanitary Surveillance and the Health Agencies to improve the knowledge of the consumer about food safety of cheeses.741M28M3

Potentially probiotic acai yogurt

The aim of this work was to evaluate the suitability of yogurt containing acai pulp as a food carrier of probiotic cultures. Probiotic yogurts containing increasing amounts of acai pulp (3, 5 and 7%) were processed and submitted to a physicochemical analysis and viable microbial count during refrigerated storage. In general, all the physicochemical parameters showed variations proportional to the amount of acai pulp in the product formulation. Probiotic activity was verified throughout refrigerated storage for all the products, although there was a fall of one logarithmic cycle for both micro-organisms during this period (10(7)-10(8) CFU/mL).61217818