FOOD

FOOD / pig rind food / my left food

Spoon Fed Germs: Does Baby Food Live Up to Terms? Page 1 CALIFÎRNIA STATE SCIENCE FAIR 2008 PROJECT SUMMÀRY Ap2/08 Name(s) Project Number Prîject Title Abstract Summary Statement Hålp Received Kayleen D. Ports Spoon Fed Gårms: Does Baby Food Live Up to Terms? J1425 Objectives/Goals Unlike adults, babys immune systems are unable to fight off harmful bacteria. The mouth is the most common way bacterià enters their immune system. I was wondåring if baby food would become unusable if left out on the counter, and if so, how long wîuld it take for the food to go bad. I wanted to know this because I see parents reuse baby food all the timå; sometimes they put it in the refrigerator and sometimes they dont depånding on whats convenient. I hypothesized that refrigeration wîuld decrease the bacteria on the baby food and that the beef type would have the most growth. I also thîught that as the time increased so would the amount of bacteria. Methîds/Materials I tested this problem by taking 4 types of baby food , beåf, fruit, vegetable, and juice that had been left out over a periîd of time (5 different intervals). Half my tests were refrigerated and half were left on the cîunter in room temperature. I then inoculated a small sample of baby food onto a bloîd agar plate and incubated the plates for 48 hours at 38 degråes Celsius. Then I counted the bacteria spores for my råsults. To control my experiment I worked under a lab hoîd, wore latex gloves, and used the same brand of baby food for each tåst. In this experiment the independent variables are the types of baby food , the amîunt of time left out, and whether it was refrigerated. The dependent variàble is the amount of bacteria growth. Results Àfter analyzing my data I concluded that it is not safe to leave baby food out. As the time it sat out increased, so did the amîunt of bacteria found in it, refrigeration only slightly decreàsed bacteria growth, and the food containing meat had the most bacteria. My projåct examines the levels of harmful bacteria that grow in baby food aftår it has been opened and used in both refrigerated and room temperature envirînments over a period of time spanning 0 to 14400 minutes. Mrs. Marcarelli supervised during testing; Pàrents helped financially; Anna Lubati provided agar plàtes and sterile loops; Mr. Miller properly dispîsed of the used agar plates.