ABSTRACT
Bread is the most common bakery product consumed and enjoyed by both children and adults from different socio-economic status across all continents. Bread is an historic dietary item that dates back to the Neolithic era. Bread can be classified into different classes and types such as yeasts breads, flats breads, quick breads, whole wheat bread, rye bread, oat bread, multi-grain bread and gluten free bread. Bread is a source of energy, protein, vitamins and dietary fibre. Bread-making involves using a large number of ingredients most importantly flour, other ingredients are salt, sugar, leavening agents including yeast and baking powder, liquids such as water and milk, fats, eggs. Bread quality deteriorates after baking as a result of prolonged and improper storage leading to its spoilage. Bread spoilage is a complicated process that undergoes chemical, physical and microbiological alterations which contributes to the staling process of bread. The specific objective is to isolate and identify these microbes associated with bread spoilage. The methodology utilized in this research includes; isolation of fungi using potato dextrose agar and identification using lactophenol cotton blue test and microscopic characteristics. The result shows the occurrence of Penicillium species, Fusarium species, Aspergillus species and Mucor species. A number of methods can be applied to prevent or minimize microbial spoilage and its includes the use of chemical, preservatives, modified atmosphere packaging irradiation , pasteurization of packaged bread and the use of bio-preservatives. In conclusion presence of spoilage microbes can bring enormous losses to the bakery industries, therefore, control of microbes to improve bread’s shelf-life is of great importance.
