Occurrences and frequency of fungi isolated from fast foods and spices | ||
| Journal of Basic and Environmental Sciences | ||
| Volume 11, Issue 1, January 2024, Pages 41-50 PDF (1.16 M) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jbes.2024.373477 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Hager A. Bashir; Amany M. Emam; Rasha Y. Abd Elghaffar; Mahmoud M. Amer; Amira E. Sehim | ||
| Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Benha University, Benha, 13518, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Meat products especially beef; luncheon and burgers are some of the most popular meals in many countries in the world including Egypt, which were found to be highly contaminated with fungi, especially Aspergillus and Penicillium spp. during the manufacturing process leading to public health hazards due to their mycotoxins production. Therefore, the current study focused on the isolation and identification of mycotoxigenic fungi that were associated with the processed food samples. A total of 54 food samples, including luncheon, burgers, sausage, meat spices, basterma, indomie corn flex, spices, crisps, karate (snacks), biscuits, maize, and soybean, were gathered from various locations in the Qalubyia Governorate in Egypt. The collected samples were examined mycologically to evaluate their quality and safety. According to the findings of this study, the luncheon samples under examination had the highest total fungal count of 313 fungal colonies/10g of the tested samples, followed by meat spices (153) and crisps (152) fungal colonies/10g. While, indomie, sausage and soybean samples showed the lowest number of fungal colonies (14, 25, and 25 colonies/10 g, respectively). The recovered fungi were identified morphologically based on macro and microscopic traits and belonged to seven genera. Interestingly, results showed that the genus Aspergillus was the most frequently (A. niger (87.044 %) and A. flavus (59.26 %) followed by Penicillium genus which represented (59.26 %). Moreover, the most predominant fungal species were screened for their toxin production. Data cleared that the highest concentrations of aflatoxins and ochratoxin A being (200.03 and 17.26 ng/ mL) were obtained from A. flavus and A. niger, respectively isolated from basterma. These findings emphasize the risk of fungal contamination exposure to consumers due to the high consumption of fast foods and spices which may be susceptible to fungal infection, leading to mycotoxins contamination if the storage conditions are favorable for the fungal growth. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Fast food; spices; Aspergillus niger; Aspergillus flavus; mycotoxins | ||
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