In the present study, species of coliform bacteria and their distribution in ice cream with vanilla or ice cream with fruit flavour in Elazığ market were investigated. Fifty samples of vanilla ice cream and 50 samples of fruit flavoured ice cream (lemon, cacao, peanut, sour cherry, and strawberry) were used resulting in total of 100 ice cream samples.

Coliform bacteria were detected in all samples, regardless of the type of ice cream. Levels of coliforms in the samples were found between 1.00 and 5.74 log₁₀ cfu/g. A total of 632 isolates were obtained from the samples. Forty one of the 186 isolates (22.04 %) from vanilla ice cream were identified as Escherichia coli. In vanilla ice cream, 186 strains isolated consisted of 89 Escherichia spp. ( 47.85 % ), 45 Citrobacter spp. (24.19 %), 32 Enterobacter spp. (17.20 %) and 20 Klebsiella oxytoca (10.75 % ). In fruit flavoured ice cream, only 26 of the 446 isolates (5.83 %) were Escherichia coli. In this type of ice cream, 446 strains isolated consisted of 190 Entereobacter spp. (42.60 %), 103 Escherichia spp.(23.09 %), 96 Citrobacter spp.(21.52 % ) and 57 Klebsiella oxytoca (12.78 %). Within a total of 632 isolates, Escherichia genus was found to be more common in the vanilla ice cream while Enterobacter was more widely spread in the fruit-flavoured ice cream samples.

As a result, these data demonstrate that vanilla or fruit flavoured ice cream sold in Elazığ commonly contained coliform bacteria, especially Escherichia coli and Enterobacter aerogenes, indicating that the ice cream products were not produced under hygienic conditions and did not assure safety to protect public health.