mould contamination of some cheese distributed in hamedan, iran (2023-2024)

Dairy products can provide a lot of human daily nutritional needs, also they can contaminate to various fungi. because of producing mycotoxins, they may jeopardize public health and food safety. this research aims at isolation, identification, counting of saprophytic fungi in different kinds of samples of cheese (traditional and industrial) in hamedan during 2023-2024. 91 samples from different types of pasteurized and traditional cheese were collected in hamedan which were investigated on the presence of saprophytic fungi. isolation, identification and mould count were conducted using pure plate and slide culture methods. the most and the least fungal contaminations were related to penicillium (90%) and cladosporium (0.91%), respectively. some fungi from the genera of aspergillus (68.13%), yeasts spp. (23.07%) and scopulariopsis (2.19%) were reported. the average contamination of mold in traditional cheese is significantly higher than industrial cheeses (p < 0.01). the fungal contamination higher rate was occurred in spring and winter. it is necessary consider to control of fungal contamination of cheese. sanitation and apply suitable standards for dairy products in order to prevent secondary contamination and health standards in traditional units need to be ensuring the safety.