Journal of Food Quality and Hazards Control

3-10

Authors: W.N. Wanjala, J.M. Nduko, M.C. Mwende

Emerging economies have often poor hygiene practices in traditional milk and dairy production all over the world. Therefore, pathogenic bacteria in milk pose major public health concerns especially for those communities who still consume raw milk. Escherichia coli and coliforms are often used as indicator microorganisms, so their presence in food implies poor hygiene and sanitary practices. The main purpose of this article is to review information on milk quality and coliform bacteria contamination associated with the production and distribution of raw milk in some of the low and middle income economies around the world. Data reported on coliform counts in milk samples from some countries categorized as low and middle income economies in Africa, South America, Asia, and Europe. Local marketing of raw milk has been increased in the low and middle income countries because of low purchasing power of most native consumers. This population is at risk of illnesses from food-borne pathogens as a result of poor milk handling along the informal milk value chains. The regulatory bodies from these low and middle income countries are usually underfunded; therefore the safety standards of the milk chain cannot be sufficiently provided, endangering public health. On the other hand, there are huge losses of milk due to microbial spoilage in the low and middle income countries. So, it is necessary for the low and middle income countries to invest in infrastructures and establishments such as potable water supply to the dairy actors, increase the electricity connectivity from national grid and off-grid, improve the transport infrastructure, and financial support of the standards regulatory institutions. Paying attention to the mentioned actions can help to improve milk safety and quality and thereby reduce the risk of the food-borne illnesses.

24-28

Authors: A. Rezaei, M.R. Pajohi-Alamoti, A. Mohammadzadeh, P. Mahmoodi

Background: Staphylococcus aureus has always been known as an important kind of bacteria causing food poisoning. This study was carried out to determine S. aureus contamination in cream pastries collected from popular confectioneries in Hamedan, Iran; also, presence of the gene encoding Staphylococcal Enterotoxin A (SEA) was studied in the isolates. Methods: During April to October 2014 (as hot and dry seasons) and October to March 2015 (as cold and wet seasons), 80 puff pastry and 80 jelly roll samples were randomly purchased from confectionary markets of Hamedan, Iran. S. aureus colonies were isolated using culture media and identified by biochemical tests. Polymerase Chain Reaction was used for confirming identification of S. aureus using femA gene and detection of sea gene encoding the SEA. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 16.0. Results: Out of 160 confectionary samples, 61 (38.1%) were contaminated with S. aureus. Among 61 S. aureus isolates, 16 (26.2%) contained the sea gene. Prevalence rates of S. aureus in the hot/dry and cold/wet seasons were 43.7% (35 out of 80) and 32.5% (26 out of 80), respectively showing significant difference (p<0.05). However, the contamination rate was not statistically significant between puff pastry and jelly roll samples (p>0.05). Conclusion: Our results indicated a considerable level of contamination in puff pastry and jelly roll samples with enterotoxigenic S. aureus, which could be due to microbial contamination of raw materials such as cream and utensils used for pastry production and lack of personal hygiene of workers. Consequently, appropriate measures should be applied to reduce the level of contamination in the confectionary products in order to ensure public health safety.

33-36

Authors: G. Zhelyazkov, D. Stratev

Background: The quality and safety of fish products is determined by chemical, physical, and microbiological parameters, important for satisfying consumers’ requirements. Also, the freshness of fish is essential for evaluation of its quality. On the Bulgarian retail market, fish is commonly offered chilled, frozen, or processed. The purpose of this study was to determine some physicochemical characteristics of fish products sampled from Bulgarian retail markets. Methods: During June to July 2017, this survey was performed on 45 samples from smoked, semi-dried, marinated, and frozen fish products sold in Bulgarian markets. The samples were collected from specialized stores for fish products, and transported to the laboratory for analysis. Water content, water activity (aw), pH, salt content, and ash content were determined according to the standard protocols. Results: The highest average water content was established in frozen products, followed by almost equal values in marinated, smoked, and semi-dried fish products. The average aw value was also the highest in frozen products (0.975), it was almost the same in marinated and smoked (0.892); and the least in semi-dried fish products (0.905). Semi-dried (3.36%), marinated (3.19%), and smoked (3.03%) fish products had considerably higher average salt content than frozen ones (0.1%). The average pH value of marinated fish products (5.26) was lower than frozen (6.88), smoked (6.76), and also semi-dried (6.68) ones. Average ash content was substantially higher in smoked (7.16%), semi-dried (6.57%), and marinated (5.97%) fish products compared with frozen products (1.18%). Conclusion: It is concluded that the frozen fish products sold in Bulgarian markets are probably more susceptible to spoilage than marinated, smoked, and semi-dried ones.