No abstract

This study was conducted to assess the mycological contamination of quail carcasses in Monofiya governorate. Total of 100 samples of fresh and frozen quail meat were taken from breast and thigh (50 of each) with skin and without skin (25 of each) from different retail shops for mycological examination and mycotoxin residues. The obtained results revealed that the highly contaminated samples in Mold and Yeast counts were in frozen quail meat of thigh with and without skin ones (1.21× 10 6 ± 4.59 × 10 5 , 1.77 ×10 6 ± 6.72× 10 5 ) and ( 1.76× 10 6 ± 5.65× 10 5 , 9.79× 10 5 ± 4.54× 10 5 ) (cfu/g), respectively. Furthermore, the highest incidence of mold serotypes was Aspergillus spp. Specially A. flavus in all samples. On the other hand, mycotoxins residue was higher in frozen samples than fresh ones. Breast without skin samples were the highest in mycotoxin residues than others (7.3±0.04, 3.8±0.04 ,1.9±0.02)(ug/l)for B1 , B2 and G1 in both fresh and frozen samples , respectively. The public health importance of these contamination and the suggestive hygienic measures to improve the quality and safety of quail meat were discussed.