Comparison of wooden (Abies spp.) and plastic trays for pasta drying

Food quality and food safety are vital in processes where products are in contact with various materials. In case of dried egg pasta trays with wooden frames were used for centuries, however with development of different materials, wood was slowly abandoned and replaced by plastic. Nevertheless there are some hygienic considerations using plastic frames in the industry of the dried egg pasta. In this research plastic and wooden trays were analysed by swabbing (N=150) and compared by total number of aerobic counts using PetrifilmTM. Results of this research showed that the total CFU/20 cm2 for wood trays, are statistically measured significantly (p< 0.001) lower (38 times) than plastic trays independent from location of taken swab and that 28 % swabs on plastic frames exceeded 200 CFU/20 cm2. Wood in food industry can be as much hygienic as plastic material on condition that is sanitised and maintained properly.