Incidence of Coliforms in Ice Cream Sold in Cairo and Giza Markets

Document Type : Original Article

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Department of Food Hygiene and Control, Faculty of Vet. Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

Ice cream is a highly nutritious dairy product commonly consumed all over the year, but especially in summer. It may harbor many potent pathogens. The microbial quality of ice cream, especially bacteriological quality, has always been crucially important to public health. In this study, the total coliform count in ice cream sold in Cairo and Giza markers was investigated. One hundred and twenty random samples of ice cream, representing 40 samples, each of: street vendors (small scale manufacturers), ice cream shops (moderate scale manufacturers) and supermarkets (large scale manufacturers) were collected, representing different flavored products with vanilla, chocolate, mango or strawberry. The results revealed the presence of coliforms in 100% of the examined samples of small scale, moderate scale and large scale, with mean values of 20 x 103± 6.6 x103, 14.8± 3.6 and 18.7± 4.8 MPN/ml, respectively. The degree of acceptability of the examined samples as compared with Egyptian Standards was determined. Identification of the isolated 168 strains revealed presence of 9 different species of coliform at different percentages ranging from 0.5% to 45.8% of the isolates. The economic and public health significance of contamination of ice cream with coliforms was discussed, as well as suggestive preventive and control measures to monitor production of high quality and safe products were suggested.

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