Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Veterinary Medicine - Department of Food Hygiene and Control

In order to determine the hygienic quality of milk and dairy products in some Egyptian markets, 150 samples, 30 each of : Raw milk, Kariesh cheese, Feta cheese, small scale yoghurt and large scale produced yoghurt, were randomly collected from different dairy shops and supermarkets in Giza, Cairo and Fayoum governorates, Egypt. Collected samples were examined microbiologically for the presence of coliforms group. Coliforms proved to be present in 100%, 86.7% and 97.7 % of examined samples of raw milk, Kariesh cheese and Small Scale yoghurt with a mean count of 13 x 10⁴ ± 7.7 x 10⁴ , 90 x 10⁴ ± 50.5 x 10⁴ and 20 x 10⁷ ± 7.5 x 10⁷ MPN/ml. or g. respectively, while coliforms failed to be detected in Feta cheese and large scale yoghurt samples. Identification of the isolated strains (78) revealed the presence of 6 different species of coliforms. The economic and public health significance, as well as, the preventive control measures of contamination of dairy products with coliforms were discussed. The effect of acidity % and storage temperature of yoghurt, as well as, different salt % of cheese on the viability of pathogenic E. coli was studied.The low storage temperature (4 oC) and the increasing Acidity % in yoghurt, attributed to lowering the E. coli count in yoghurt, while the high salt % in cheese (5% and 10%) had a suppressive effect upon pathogenic E. coli count

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