Evaluation of Microbiological Quality and Safety of Milk and Dairy Products with Reference to European and Gulf Standards

摘要

This study investigated the microbiological quality and safety of milk and dairy products including pasteurized milk, pasteurized cream, cultured dairy products (labneh), a wide range of cheese varieties (fresh, soft, semi-hard, hard and processed cheese) and ice cream obtained from Qassim market, Saudi Arabia. The samples were evaluated for microbiological criteria; which included Salmonella sp., and Listeria monocytogenes ; served assafety index criteriawhereas, aerobic plate count (APC), Enterobacteriaceae and Escherichia coli were considered as quality guideline criteria. The outcome results were checked in accordance with the European Regulation EC 2073/2005 and Gulf standards GSO /FDS 1016 / 2014. None of the samples tested contained Salmonella sp. or L. monocytogens with 100% compliance with the standards. Regards to APC level, unacceptable levels were only found in pasteurized cream samples (25%) whereas, processed cheese, pasteurized milk, and ice cream graded as satisfactory according to standards. The highest level of Enterobacteriaceae was detected in soft cheese while 42.85% and 23.8 were unacceptable according to Gulf standards and EU regulation respectively. Also, E. coli were existed only in soft cheese with 14.3% rejected samples. It worth noting, that critical processing evaluation and reevaluation of HACCP plan should be considered to improve the quality of soft cheese products.