A survey was carried out to detect aflatoxins and isolate aflatoxigenic moulds contaminating fresh and processed meat products. The fungal contamination was examined in 215 samples of fresh and processed meat products and 130 samples of spices used in the meat industry collected from different local companies in Cairo, Egypt. Processed meat products such as beefburger, hot‐dog, kubeba, sausage, luncheon meat had the highest count of moulds as compared with fresh and canned meat. Out of 150 samples of meat products and 100 samples of spices, aflatoxin B₁ was detected in five samples of beefburger, (8 μg/kg), four samples of black pepper (35 fig/kg), and four samples of white pepper (22 μg/kg). Aflatoxins B₁ and B₂ were detected in one sample of kubeba (150 μgB₁/kg and 25 μgB₂/kg); hot‐dog (5 μgB₁/kg and 2 μgB₂/kg) sausage (7 μgB₁/kg and 3 μgB₂/kg) and luncheon meat (4 μgB₁/kg and 2 μgB₂/kg). Also, aflatoxins B₁ and G₁ were detected in two samples of turmeric (12 μgB₁/kg and 8 μgG₁/kg) and coriander (8 μgB₁/kg and 2 μgG₁/kg). Aspergillus flavus (24 isolates), and Aspergillus parasiticus (16 isolates) were the predominant aflatoxin‐producing moulds isolated from both processed meat products and spices. Aflatoxins were absent in fresh meat, canned meat, salami, beefsteak and minced meat. The contamination of processed meat with aflatoxin was shown to correlate with the addition of spices to fresh meat.

Publications with shared reference:

0 publications found