Bacteriological quality and safety of four fluid dairy products sold in El Fayoum Governorate, Egypt

The study was designed to assess the safety and bacteriological quality of 120 samples, including small-scale fluid cream, large-scale Laban rayeb, pasteurised milk, and ultra-high temperature milk (UHT). Thirty samples of each product were collected from different localities in El Fayoum province, Egypt. Samples were analysed for the total bacterial count (TBC), total coliforms, faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. The mean value of TBC in small-scale fluid cream and pasteurised milk were 1.68x10(6) +/- 1.3x10(5) and 4.30x10(3) +/- 6.66x10(2) CFU / ml, respectively. The mean value of faecal coliforms in fluid cream was 1.87x10(4) +/- 8.18x10(3) CFU / ml. E. coli was only present in fluid cream with a mean value of 2.25x10(3) +/- 8.63x10(2) CFU / ml. Isolated E. coli strains were serologically identified as O125(16/30), O158 (10/30), O157 (4/30), with a percentage of 53.33, 33.33 and 13.33% respectively. Conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) identified the presence of aroA and fimH but not Stx1 and Stx2 genes. S. aureus was detected in the examined fluid cream samples, with a mean value of 7.56x10(4) +/- 8.81x10(3), CFU / ml. High microbial counts of TBC, E. coli and S. aureus in fluid cream may present a public health hazard to the consumers. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the quality of locally produced cream to diminish the hazard from that product.