Resumo

The cornmeal (fine corn) and corn starch (corn grain) are the primary food of the population of Northeast Brazil and some animals. Various toxigenic fungi can contaminate these cereals, particularly Fusarium sp., followed by Aspergillus sp. and Penicillium sp. These fungi can produce several mycotoxins in food, and the major fumonisins and aflatoxins. Therefore, the study aimed to analyze the mycoflora of six brands of cornmeal and corn starch and a bulk sample of cornmeal (7) sold and consumed in Recife - PE. Samples were collected, packaged and processed as follows: 25g of each sample was homogenized dissolved in 225ml of sterile peptone water and 0.1 ml of serial dilutions 10-1 and 10-3 were plated scattering surface the media DRBC and AFPA in triplicate. The plates were incubated for 7 days at 25 ° C and the count cfu /g of sample was determined by count of colonies in DRBC medium. The colonies aflatoxigenic Aspergillus grown in AFPA medium were transplanted to the medium LCA and incubated for 3 days at 25 ° C and the fluorescence at 365nm observed. 42.85% of the samples analyzed (3) showed no fungal growth in media DRBC and AFPA, indicating suitability for human consumption. Of the four samples (57.14%) that showed contamination (3, 5, 6 and 7), two (3 and 7) have colonies of Aspergillus sp. the media DRBC and AFPA, indicating contamination with a fungus toxigenic. These samples were in the medium LCA at 365nm yellow to green fluorescence, indicating aflatoxin production of the group G. The sample 7 in addition to presenting aflatoxigenic Aspergillus showed the highest rate of fungal colonies in DRBC medium (2, 45 x 105 cfu g-1), followed by the sample 5 (4x 102 CFU g-1) and 6 (2x 102 cfu g-1). It is noteworthy that high contamination of the sample 7 may be due to the fact that it is the only sample of cornmeal sold in bulk and with the purpose of animal feed. Among the fungal genera found among the four samples in DRBC corn meal, Penicillium sp. and Fusarium sp. stood out for being present at all, followed by Aspergillus sp. and Curvularia sp., to be present in one sample. The research has observed that the six brands of corn meal analyzed, two are found unsuitable for human consumption.