Background: Species identification in the food of animal origin is an essential aspect of its control. Food safety and environmental forensic professionals in various countries are becoming increasingly concerned about the number of serious food offences being carried out by organised criminals. Adulteration in food especially meat is relevant for legal, economic, religious and public health reasons. This study aimed to determine potential adulteration and/ or contamination with the donkey, chicken or even human tissues or cells in different marketed red meat products. The products tested were the uncooked beef burger, sausage, kofta and luncheon, manually processed or were of different commercial brands with variable prices, through a PCR-based method. A total of 40 different commercial meat product samples were randomly collected from restaurants, butchers, hypermarkets and local shops. The 12S rRNA region within the mitochondrial DNA was amplified with species-specific primers for identification of two suspected animal species (donkey and chicken) and two nuclear DNA STRs (short tandem repeats) loci, TPOX and D18S51 for excluding human origin of adulteration or contamination. Results: The total beef samples analysed showed 87.5% adulteration and mislabelling with one or more species. They were mostly mixed with chicken meat or their by-products (72.5%) followed by donkey (12.5%) and lastly human (2.5%) that was detected in a manually prepared kofta sample. Conclusion: The used non-human species-specific PCR along with the first reported use of human hypervariable STRs proved valuable and straightforward techniques for species authentication of meat products.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the nutrient composition and cholesterol content of most popular fast foods sold in Qena city, Egypt with reference to their trans fatty acids contents. Design/methodology/approach Total 80 samples of fast foods were collected from various fast food restaurants in Qena city, Egypt. The samples were investigated for their nutritive quality by measuring moisture, protein, fat, ash, carbohydrate and energy content as described by the association of analytical chemists. The cholesterol content was determined using a spectrophotometer, while trans fatty acids were analyzed by gas chromatography using standard methods. Findings The study revealed a wide variation in the composition and nutritive value. On a fresh weight basis, moisture, protein, fat, carbohydrate and ash ranged from 45.9-55.0 (P < 0.001), 15.0-22.3 (P < 0.001), 13.1-15.7 (P = 0.034), 6.0-16.2 (P < 0.001) and 2.2-3.5 (P < 0.001), %w/w, respectively. The fast foods were very energy dense with calorie content varying from 236.5-281.1 (P < 0.001), Kcal/100 g. The mean values of cholesterol were between 15-17 mg/100 g (P = 0.398). The findings showed that fast foods had high total trans fatty acids content exceeding the Danish legal limit of 2 g/100 g of fat being in the range of 3.5 to 11.3 g per 100 g fat (P = 0.379). Elaidic acid is the predominant trans-isomer in industrially produced trans fatty acids. The concentrations of elaidic acid were high in all samples examined (P = 0.942). Originality/value This study has established the fact that fast foods are associated with high total energy intake, high intake of fat, trans fat and a higher proportion of calories being derived from total fat and trans-fat. Therefore, it is recommended to limit the intake of fast food.

The present study was performed to evaluate the mycological quality of 25 samples of commercially available salted fish (Hydrocynus forskalii) sold in retails outlets in Assiut Governorate, Egypt. Three isolation media [Dicloran Rose Bengal Chloramphenicol (DRBC); 10% NaCl malt extract agar and 20% NaCl malt extract agar] were used for counting and identification of fungi. Also, sensory quality, pH values and sodium chloride percentage were assessed. Sensory evaluation revealed that 12% of the samples were unacceptable while the remaining 88% samples were acceptable. Mean pH values were 7.04 ± 0.27 and 6.81 ± 0.35 for skin and muscular parts, respectively. Sodium chloride percentage ranged from 10.23 to 17.55% with a mean value of 15.03 ± 1.77. A total of 75 species in addition to some unidentified species of yeasts, dematiaceous hyphomycetes and pure mycelia were isolated from all samples on DRBC (61 species), 10% NaCl malt extract agar (46) and 20% NaCl malt extract agar (19). Aspergillus, Petromyces, Penicillium, Eurotium, Cladosporium and yeasts were the most common fungi recovered on the three media. Some of the isolated fungi are toxigenic and have the ability to produce mycotoxins which have potential hazards on human health.