Calidad microbiológica de yerba mate canchada

milled (canchada) yerba mate is one of the commercial forms of yerba mate. it is obtained in the early stages of the manufacturing process, through the coarse grinding of dry leaves after sapecado and drying, which constitute the raw material for mills. the objectives of our work were to assess the microbiological quality of canchada yerba mate, and to observe if the ageing period influences the proliferation of microorganisms in yerba mate processing. microbiological analysis of 20 samples of canchada yerba mate was carried out by total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (bamt), total coliform (rct), fecal coliforms (rctt), fungi and yeasts (rhl) counting, and escherichia coli detection. microbiological counting showed average values of 2.2 xl03 ufc/g for bamt, of 5.5 x 102 nmp/g for ct; <3 nmp/g for ctt; of 1 x 103 ufc/g for rhl, with no presence of escherichia coli being detected. microbial contamination in canchada yerba mate is lower than that found in manufactured and composed yerba mate. the ageing period favors the microbial contamination of yerba mate.