Physico-chemical and microbiological properties of manna (gezo) samples collected from retailers in south-east of Turkey

Abstract

Manna (gezo) is a traditional sweet, which is commonly consumed in south-east of Turkey. However, there is a myth about the sweet that it is strongly believed by the people within the region that manna is treated as a magical substance that rains down from the sky and it was thought that it could cure some diseases. In this study, totally 30 manna samples were analyzed. The contamination rate of total mesophilic aerob bacteria, coliform bacteria, Bacillus cereus, mold, yeast, osmophilic yeast and sulfite reducing anaerobe bacteria were found 100, 26.66, 23.33, 23.33, 76.66, 96.66 and 36.66%, respectively. Salmonella spp., Listeria spp., Staphylococcus-Micrococcus and Escherichia coli could not be determined in any of the samples. Mean value of pH and moisture, dry matter, ash, protein, fat and crude cellulose of the manna samples were found 5.86, 3.49, 96.51, 13.77, 0.39, 0.79 and 8.99%, respectively. As a result, important pathogens were not determined in the manna samples. However, some indicator bacteria of hygiene such as coliform were detected. It was concluded that during the production of the manna samples might be contaminated with some microorganisms from different sources and these contaminations caused health risks.