MICROBIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL ANALYSES OF SAUSAGE AND LUNCHEON SAMPLES COLLECTED FROM SOME SUPERMARKETS IN MANSOURA CITY.

The present work was carried out to be ensured that the microbiological and chemical analyses of the collected samples of sausage and luncheon are safe for human consumption and in high quality for human nutrition or not, Microbiological analysis revealed that total bacterial count in luncheon sample ranged from 3.6x10⁴ to 222.0x10⁴ cfu/g. Most samples showed exceeding for the maximum limit (10⁵). The total fungal count ranged from 0.31x10² to 240x10² cfu/g. lipolytic and proteolytic bacteria ranged from 0.0 to 55.7x10 and from 0.21 to 91.3x10⁴ cfu/g respectively. Counts of Enterobacteriaceae members ranged from 0x10²  to 157.7x10² cfu/g. The count of coliform organisms ranged from 0.05x104 to 40x104 cfu/g, Salmonella & Shigella were detected in 37.5% of the samples and Clostridium was detected in 50% of the samples. Furthermore, Listeria and Staphylococcus were detected in 68.75 and 87.5% of the samples, respectively. Counts of coliform ranged from 2.37×103 to 251.3×103 cfu/g.   Microbiological results of sausage samples revealed that the values of total bacterial count ranged from 0.13×10⁵ to 221.0x10⁵ cfu/g. Fungal count ranged from 0.0 to 40.7x10² cfu/g. Lipolytic bacteria counts ranged from 0.0 to 234.3x10 cfu/g. Proteolytic bacteria counts ranged from 0.55x10⁴ to 261.33x10⁴ cfu/g. Enterobacteriaceae  members count ranged from 0.35x10³ to 225.0x10³ cfu/g, Salmonella & Shigella were negative in all samples except two samples. About 53% of the examined samples were contaminated by Clostridium while only three samples (23%) were free from Listeria monocytogenes, all samples were contaminated with Staphylococcus except two sample. For chemical composition, all luncheon samples had moisture content up to 58.0%. The highest ash content was 6.72% in luncheon sample B₄ while the lowest value represented in sample B₁ being 5.11%. pH values of the collected luncheon samples are around 5.9 to 6.4. (Rabie, 2010). The values of TVN were ranged from 11.63 and 13.06 mg/100gm sample. (NPN) were varied from 0.18 to 0.39 and SPN did not exceed 0.5%, while TSN ranged also from 0.44 to 0.69%.  All obtained value for the content of malondlhyde of fat for some collected luncheon products did not exceed 3.0 mg malondlhyde kg/oit. Chemical analysis of  sausage samples showed that the moisture values ranged from 53.62 to 56.75%, Samples of  A scored the highest value of fat being 46.07% . Protein ranged from 20.69 to 33.19%, TBA values also in the same level. pH values of the samples are around 6.15 and 6.61. Finally, samples of luncheon and sausage were chemically in accordance with the Egyptian Standard Specification (2005_b) but from microbiological view most of the samples were not safe.