Microbial Count in Stingless Bee Honey (Tetragonula iridipennis (Smith)) Divya K. K., Amritha V. S., Viswanathan Aswathy, Devanesan S. Department of Agricultural Entomology, College of Agriculture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram (Dt), Kerala Online published on 15 December, 2016. Abstract Study on microbial load assessment of stingless bee honey (Tetragonula iridipennis (Smith)) was conducted at College of Agriculture, Vellayani during 2013–15 with the objective to evaluate the microbial population in honey and safety of honey for consumption. Stingless bee honey samples collected from thirty locations of southern Kerala were subjected to microbial load assessment by using nutrient agar (NA) and Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) media. The microorganisms isolated were identified as Bacillus vallismortis, Pantoea sp., Staphylococcus lentus and Penicillium sp. Total number of colony forming units (cfu) of both bacteria and fungus in the honey sample were less 1000 cfu/g. Since the microbes in the honey were under admissible level, they are safe for consumption. Top Keywords Stingless bee, Bacillus vallismortis, Staphylococcus lentus, Pantoea, Penicillium. Top |