A total of 150 dairy products samples represented as 25 of each table, cooking butter, kareish, Damietta, Ras and processed cheeses. Samples were collected randomly from supermarkets, groceries and street-vendors at Alexandria Governorate. Collected samples were transmitted to the laboratory in insulated ice-boxes with a minimum of delay where prepared and subjected to mycological evaluation. Results revealed that the mean values of yeast counts in table, cooking butter, kareish, Damietta, Ras and processed cheeses were 4.76×103 ± 0.91×103; 3.58×105 ± 0.80 ×105; 5.65 ×106 ± 0.69 ×106; 1.78 ×105 ± 0.57×105; 1.75×105 ± 0.55×105 and 4.9×103 ± 4.8× 103 cfu/g while, mean values of mold counts were 3.05×102 ± 0.46×102; 5.5×104 ± 1.43×104; 2.75×105 ± 0.55×105; 4.69×104 ± 1.04×104; 2.68×104 ± 0.51×104 and 6.36×102 ± 1.08×102 cfu/g, respectively. Candida spp. were the most prevalent yeast isolated and Pencillium was the most predominant mold isolated followed by genus Aspergillus. Most of examined butter and cheese samples were exceeded the permissible limit for yeast and mold count stated by the Egyptian Standard. Public health significance of studied mycobiota, sources of contamination of butter and cheese as well as strict control and hygienic measures that could be applied to produce safe and high quality dairy products were fully discussed
Key words: cheese, butter, mycobiota, mold and yeast
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