The isolation and identification of moulds in baked food (Bread and Cake) was carried out in the laboratory. The sample (Bread and Cake) was bought from a fast food shops, put in a sterile container and sent to the laboratory. It was prepared by grounding 20g of the sample (Bread and Cake) each in 500mls of distilled water. Using pour plate method, 1ml of the prepared sample solution was pipetted into Petri dishes, the prepared agar (Sabourand agar) was poured into the Petri dishes and swirled for homogeneous mixture. It was allowed to solidify and incubated at 37⁰C for 24hrs. The result of the baked food isolated showed that baked products that have exceeded their shelf-life are being contaminated with moulds such as Aspergillus flavus, Mucor rouxii, Rhizopus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae which makes the product unifit for consumption.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Food spoilage by mould is a natural problem occurring more or less frequently depending on the nature of food and the environmental conditions, in addition to the economic consequences of mould growth. Some fungal species have been proven to produce mycotoxins in food, which may constitute a potential health hazard for the consumer (Alan, 1999).

Baked food such as bread, cake are the most staple food in the world. These food are spoiled by moulds especially Penicillin species, Aspegillus species. However, the dominant spoilage mould depends on the type of bread and the storage temperature. Mycotoxigenic mould can be isolated from spoilage breads, and many mycotoxins have been produced in inoculated breads, but survey of naturally moulds breads have yielded afflotoxin and Ochrotoixn A in few samples of baked food (Kroll, 1993). Mould growth in baked food bread and cake can be reduced by a range of techniques which includes: proper hygienic within the bakery to reduce the opportunities for mould spores to gain access to the product, pasteurization of bread once packaged, use of preservatives which reduces or prevent the growth of moulds (Samuel, 2000).

1.1 AIM OF THE STUDY

i. To identify the mould responsible for spoilage in baked food (Bread and cake)

ii. To isolate moulds in the product (Bread and cake).

iii. To know the effect of the mould implicated in bakery foods (Bread and cake).

1.2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research work was carried out in isolation and identification of bakery food (Bread and cake). Also the effect of the mouldal contamination was determined. And the preservative methods were applied in order to prevent mouldal growth on bread.

1.3 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS

A major causes of growth of mould in baked food (Bread and cake) is long storage. Baked product being food consumed, entails large purchase from bakery, and at times the sellers do not finish the sale within a week. These long storage causes growth of mould, resulting to food poisoning as a result of the toxins produce by these mould infected bread.

Research conducted shows that people especially in rural areas consume mould infected bread and also the prevalence of food borne disease is high in these area.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The isolation and identification of mould in baked product would provide a knowledge of the effect of mould on the baked product, these would thereby improve the needs to preserve baked foods (Bread and cake), and reduce the rate of food poisoning from consumer’s of the product.

1.5 LIMITATION OF STUDY

Lack of finance limited the scope of the project work, as it interfered in the sourcing for information, and also it affected the practical work as there was not enough money to purchase some laboratory materials that are non-existence.