Microbiological Quality of Frozen Cream-Type Pies Sold in Canada

Ten types of frozen cream-type pies, manufactured in Canada and imported from the United States, were analyzed for aerobic colony counts, yeasts and molds, coliforms, Escherichia coli , Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella . The variations in counts depended more on the manufacturer than on the type of pie and the ingredients used. Five of the 465 examined pies had an excess of 10⁵ aerobic colony counts/g, whereas the median value for all the pies examined was between 10² and 10³ CFU/g. E. coli and S. aureus were present in few pies, mainly made by one manufacturer, but there was no correlation between high aerobic colony counts and these organisms. Salmonella was not found in any of the pies. Percentage distributions of the estimated 'population' of pies available nationally at the time of the survey were statistically determined. These were then compared with suggested national guidelines in the form of a three-class acceptance plan based on United States surveys and desirable manufacturing practices. These indicate that pies should contain aerobic colony counts of <50,000/g, yeast and mold counts of <500/g, S. aureus counts of <100/g, coliform counts of <50/g, E. coli counts of <10/g, and no Salmonella . Three of the six manufacturers would have had an estimated 5.4 to 32.6% of lots in excess of the guidelines at the time of the survey.