en Environmental Health, Sciences, and Engineering Environmental Health, Sciences, and Engineering پژوهشي Original Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="line-height:1;"><b><span lang="EN" style="color:black">Background:</span></b><span style="color:black"> Airborne microorganisms in refrigerators may compromise the safety and quality of stored foods. This study assessed airborne bacterial and fungal contamination in dormitory and household refrigerators in Eghlid.</span><span lang="EN" style="color:black"></span><br> <b><span lang="EN"><span style="color:black">Methods:</span></span></b><span lang="EN"><span style="color:black"> Airborne microorganisms were evaluated in 18 dormitory</span></span> <span lang="EN"><span style="color:black">and five household refrigerators using the passive settle plate method. </span></span><span style="color:black">Nutrient agar and Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) were used for bacterial isolation, and Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) for fungal and yeast isolation. </span><span lang="EN"><span style="color:black">Plates were exposed inside refrigerators for 1 h and incubated at </span></span><span style="color:black">35</span> <span style="color:black">&plusmn;</span> <span style="color:black">2</span> <span style="color:black">&deg;C</span><span lang="EN"><span style="color:black"> for bacteria and </span></span><span style="color:black">25</span> <span style="color:black">&plusmn;</span> <span style="color:black">2</span> <span style="color:black">&deg;C</span><span lang="EN"><span style="color:black"> for fungi and yeasts. Microorganisms were identified using standard microscopic and biochemical methods.</span></span> <span style="color:black">Air contamination levels were expressed as the Index of Microbial Air Contamination (IMA) (CFU/plate/h).</span><span lang="EN"><span style="color:black"></span></span><br> <b><span lang="EN" style="color:black">Results:</span></b><span style="color:black"> Bacterial contamination exceeded fungal and yeast contamination in both refrigerator types. <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> was the predominant bacterium, and Gram-positive bacteria were more prevalent. Among fungi, <i>Aspergillus spp</i>. (29%) and <i>Penicillium spp.</i> (26%) were the most prevalent genera, whereas <i>Rhodotorula spp</i>. (75%) was the predominant yeast. IMA was higher in dormitory refrigerators (26.39</span> <span style="color:black">&plusmn;</span> <span style="color:black">11.66 CFU/plate/h) than in household refrigerators (12.0</span> <span style="color:black">&plusmn;</span> <span style="color:black">4.53 CFU/plate/h) (Mann-Whitney U test, <i>P</i> = 0.01).</span><span dir="RTL" lang="FA"><span style="color:black"></span></span><br> <b><span style="color:black">Conclusion:</span></b><span style="color:black"> Airborne microbial contamination was detected in refrigerators, with higher levels in dormitory refrigerators than in household ones.</span></span></span></span></div> <p lang="en"></p> Refrigerator, Airborne microorganisms, Settle plate method, Index of microbial air contamination (IMA), 0 0 http://jhehp.zums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-279-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Arezoo Tavakoli ar.tavakoli@iau.ac.ir 100319475328460016603 0009-0009-8260-8047 Yes Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Egh.C., Islamic Azad University, Eghlid, Iran.