| Resumo: | The objective of this study was to examine the microbiological and physicochemical quality of fresh and canned pickles sold in different supermarkets in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The microbiological and physicochemical quality of 174 samples of fresh and canned vegetable pickles (mixed, cucumber and mackdos) commercially available in retail outlets in Saudi Arabia were assessed. The results show that fresh mixed pickles have high aerobic plate count (APC), mould and yeast (MY) values, whereas the canned cucumbers contained high total coliform (TC) compared to the other pickle types (P ≤ 0.05). The pH values were higher in the canned pickles than in the fresh pickles, whereas the acidity and salt concentration of the fresh pickles were higher than those of the canned pickles (P ≤ 0.05). Regarding sampling location, location 7 had the best microbiological quality of fresh pickles compared to the other locations; however, it also had the lowest quality of canned pickles, as reflected by the high APC (4.52 Log10/g) which was higher than that of the other locations (P ≤ 0.05). The microbiological quality of canned pickles at location 4 was higher than those of the other locations (P ≤ 0.05). The quality of fresh pickles in location 8 and canned pickles in location 5 were the lowest (P ≤ 0.05), showing higher microbial loads (APC, MY, and TC). Overall, our findings suggest that pickles’ conditions and purchase locations both influenced their microbiological and physicochemical quality. Based on the microbiological and physicochemical analysis, most of the pickle samples from all locations were acceptable for consumption.
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