Abstract
The effect of gamma irradiation on the quality of kareish cheese was evaluated. Egyptian kareish cheese were subjected to gamma irradiation at different safety doses beginning from 1 kilo gray (KGy) to a maximum of 5 KGy. The physico-chemical composition as well as microbiological quality of kareish cheese samples were monitored before and after irradiation. Moisture, salt, soluble nitrogen and total nitrogen decreased while pH was higher in cheese samples before irradiation in comparison with the irradiated groups. Irradiation reduced population of bacteria i.e. total colony count, total yeast and mold count, coliform count, total Enterobacteriacae count and total Staphylococcus count. The effect was more pronounced at the highest dose (5 KGy). It could be concluded that increasing the dose of irradiation up to 5 KGy had high reduction percentages for bacterial counts with no effects on either sensory or chemical characteristics. Our results suggest that kareish cheese manufacturers could use gamma irradiation to improve the safety of this product.
Highlights
Seafoods have been a popular part of the diets in many parts of the world and in some countries constitute the main supply of animal protein due to their palatability and digestibility
With the increase of seafoods consumption, the epidemiological data confirmed the role of seafoods as a carrier of foodborne infection or intoxication including contamination by pathogenic halophilic Vibrio species (Huss, 1993; Oliver and Kaper, 1997)
Halophilic Vibrio species are opportunistic bacterial pathogens common inhabitant of water-based ecosystem virtually at all temperate regions such as marine, coastal and estuarine environment and can be found in fresh water. They could be isolated from marine and estuarine environment and from various species of marine seafoods and fishery products dwelling in these environments (Takeda, 1983; Cavallo and Stabili, 2002; FDA/CFSAN, 2004)
Summary
Seafoods have been a popular part of the diets in many parts of the world and in some countries constitute the main supply of animal protein due to their palatability and digestibility. With the increase of seafoods consumption, the epidemiological data confirmed the role of seafoods as a carrier of foodborne infection or intoxication including contamination by pathogenic halophilic Vibrio species (Huss, 1993; Oliver and Kaper, 1997). Halophilic Vibrio species are opportunistic bacterial pathogens common inhabitant of water-based ecosystem virtually at all temperate regions such as marine, coastal and estuarine (brackish) environment and can be found in fresh water. They could be isolated from marine and estuarine environment and from various species of marine seafoods and fishery products dwelling in these environments (Takeda, 1983; Cavallo and Stabili, 2002; FDA/CFSAN, 2004). Species of halophilic Vibrio are Gram-negative, asporogenous, straight rods or have a single rigid curve, facultative anaerobic, highly motile with a single polar flagellum of family Vibrionaceae including V. parahaemolyticus, V. alginolyticus, V. fluvialis, V. metschnikovii, and V. vulnificus (Kaneko and Colwell, 1975; Baumann and Schubert, 1984; Oliver and Kaper, 1997; Hurley et al, 2006)
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