Diversity of some food born fungi associated with raw milk and some cheese in Egypt

Abstract

Contamination of milk and cheese with different types of fungi would constitute a public health hazard. These fungi may cause mycotoxicosis in human and/or spoilage of these products. This study aimed to the isolation and identification of mould and yeast in raw milk and some cheese. Sixty samples were collected from Giza Governorate, Egypt including; 20 raw milk, 20 processed cheese and 20 soft white cheese. The results reported that, overall incidence rate of moulds in processed cheese, soft white cheese and raw milk were; 18/20 (90%), 6/20 (30%) and 16/20 (80 %), respectively, while the mean mould counts were 1.3×10 3 ± 1.8×10² cfu/g,6.7×10 3 ± 2.6×10 3 cfu/g and 5.9×10 3 ± 1.3×10 3 cfu/m, respectively. The isolated mould species from these samples were Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp., Eupenicillium spp.,Phoma spp., Geotrichum spp.and Fusarium spp. Meanwhile, the yeast contamination was detected in soft white cheese and raw milk samples with incidence rate of 10/20 (50%) and 16/20 (80%), respectively, while not detected in processed cheese samples. The most predominant yeast species isolated from soft white cheese and raw milk samples were Debaryomyces hansenii, Pichia anomala, Sacharomyces cervisioe, Candida tropicalis, Candida pseudotropicalis, Torulopsis and Rhodotorula. In conclusion, the presence of high incidence of fungi in raw milk and cheese samples would lead to a public health hazards and/or economic losses due to spoilage of these products, therefore, strict hygienic conditions are required.