Aflatoxin Producing Moulds and Aflatoxin Residues in Meat and Meat Products in Egypt

This investigation was designed to throw light on the contamination rate of meat and meat products with mould and aflatoxins. The prevalence and population density of the mycobiota of 350 beef meat and meat product samples (frozen meat, minced meat, liver, kidney, luncheon, sausage, hawawchi), 50 of each, collected from different abattoirs, markets and shopkeepers in Egypt were studied. The highest total mould count/g was obtained from the sausage samples (4.20 ± 1.25 X 10⁴), whereas the frozen meat samples yielded the lowest mould count (2.00 ± 1.2 X 10²). The most frequently encountered mould genera from the examined samples were Aspergillus and penicillium. Aspergillus species were isolated at percent of 100%, 80%, 80%, 78%, 74%, 70% and 50% from minced meat, hawawchi, sausage, luncheon, liver, frozen meat and kidney samples respectively. Aspergillus flavus was the most predominant isolated species. All A. parasiticus and 77.96% of A. flavus isolates were positive for aflatoxin production on coconut agar medium (CAM), thin layer chromatography (TLC) and fluorometric immune affinity method. Detection of aflatoxin residues in meat and meat products samples revealed that the highest mean values of aflatoxin residues (µg/kg) B₁, B₂, G₁ and G₂ were detected in the kidney samples (12.36 ± 1.89, 9.84 ± 1.63, 5.38 ± 1.36 and 6.84 ± 1.39, respectively)followed by the liver (13.81 ± 1.96, 3.26 ± 0.92, 2.51 ± 0.63 and 1.36 ± 0.38), luncheon  (3.71 ± 1.35, 3.59± 1.12, 5.24 ± 1.12 and 6.77 ±1.49), hawawchi (11.03 ± 2.43, 2.25± 0.52, 2.54 ± 0.99 and 2.56 ± 0.27),  minced  meat (3.62 ± 0.88, 3.40 ± 0.82, 4.24 ± 0.85, 2.83 ± 0.60) and frozen meat samples which had  the lowest  level of AFs (4.80 ± 0.89, 5.3 ± 2.1, 1.71 ± 0.60 and 0.0) respectively. The detected levels of aflatoxin residues in the present samples were compared with the international permissible limits of WHO, FAO and FDA. Most of detected aflatoxins levels in meat and meat product samples were more than the permissible limits thus would be unfit for human consumption. The present study attracts the attention to potential risk for aflatoxin producing moulds and aflatoxins contamination and strongly recommends reduction in various causes of contamination as lack of hygienic measures during slaughtering, handling, transportation, storage or processing to meat and its products and also avoiding contaminated spices used in meat processing