Factors Determining the Composition of the Contaminating Micro Flora

The interaction between microorganisms and the food mainly based on two factors. Those are intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors. Other than these two there are many more and essentials are implicit factors, Contaminating micro flora growth of the specific micro flora and spoilage symptoms.

Extrinsic factors include storing temperature, gaseous atmosphere, relative humidity and duration. Depending on different storing temperatures and relative humidity ranges there are different kinds of microbes. According to the types of gases present in atmosphere microbes vary such as anaerobes, aerobes, facultative anaerobes and microaerophiles.

Intrinsic factors include nutrient content of the food, anti microbial components present, pH, water activity, gases in food such as oxygen, mechanical barriers for the microbial invasion. When nutrients, water, oxygen are high then composition and number of different types of microbes increase. Mechanical barriers and anti microbial substances prevent microbe’s arrival.
Contaminating micro flora: different foods have different microbial composition. Foe an example in meat usually gram negatives present.

Implicit factors include the microbial succession. (Will be discussed in practicals).

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