Background and objectives: Paper and paperboard packaging play an important role in safety and quality of food products. Common bacteria of paper and paperboard food packaging could grow due to specific conditions included humidity, temperature and major nutrition to contaminate the food. The purpose of this research was to investigate numbers and the types of bacteria in the food packaging paperboard.
Materials and methods: The surface and the depth of the each paperboard sample were examined by the dimension of one cm(2) and one gram. The paperboard samples were randomly collected from popular confectionaries and fast food restaurants in Tehran, Iran.
Results: The results indicated the range of 0.2×10(3) to >1.0×10(5) cfu/1g bacterial contamination in paperboard food packaging. Also, most detected bacteria were from spore forming and family Bacillaceae.
Conclusion: The bioburden paperboard used for food packaging showed high contamination rate more than standard acceptance level.
Keywords: Bacterial contamination; Bioburden; Family Bacillaceae; Food packaging; Paperboard.