Bacteriological quality and safety of four fluid dairy products sold in El Fayoum governorate, Egypt

The study was designed to assess the safety and bacteriological quality of one hundred and twenty samples including (small scale fluid cream, large scale Laban rayeb, Pasteurized milk and UHT milk) (30 of each). The samples were collected randomly in their retail packages from different localities in Fayoum province, Egypt. Samples were analyzed for total bacterial count (TBC), total coliforms, fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The mean value of TBC in small scale fluid cream and pasteurized milk were 1.68×106 ± 1.3×105 and 4.30×103 ±6.66×102 CFU / ml respectively. The mean value of Faecal coliforms in Fluid cream were 1.87×104 ± 8.18×103 CFU / ml. E. coli only present in fluid cream with a mean value of 2.25×103 ± 8.63×102 CFU / ml. Isolated E. coli strains were serologically identified as O125(16/30), O158 (10/30), O1 (4/30) with a percentage of 53.33%, 33.33 and 13.33% respectively. By using conventional PCR, E. coli were harbored aroA and fimH genes and not harbored STx1 and STx2. Staphylococcus aureus was detected in the examined fluid cream samples, with a mean value of 7.56×104 ± 8.81×103, CFU / ml. High microbial counts of fluid cream may present a public health hazard to the consumers and so the study presented some recommendations to diminish the hazard from that product.