A total of 835 samples of leafy vegetables and some aromatic medicinal plants were collected from five different areas of Egypt during 1999. Ninety-seven per cent of the leafy vegetables were contaminated with heavy metals with 39% exceeding the maximum limits for each element. Cadmium was detected in 78 of 116 samples of leafy vegetable, although without any exceeding the maximum limits. However, lead was detected in 99 samples, of which 39 exceeded the maximum limits (0.3 mg kg(-1)) and 56 medicinal plant samples of 70 had lead levels above 0.5 mg kg(-1). Copper was detected in 69 medicinal plant samples, of which 58 samples contained levels higher than 10 mg kg(-1). However, cadmium was only found in 43% of samples with only two of 70 samples above the maximum limit. Seventy-three per cent of the samples of medicinal plants were contaminated with pesticide residues, of which 44% contained amounts that exceeded maximum residue limits. Malathion was the most frequently found pesticide residue, being detected in 203 of 391 (52%.) samples, followed by profenofos, which was detected in 131 of 391 (33%) samples.

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The aim of this study was to implement Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA cycle) as a method for the continuous quality improvement in the dairy laboratories. This method was used to identify and analyze the critical problems that occur in the preanalytical stage of ultra-high-temperature (UHT) milk samples, to find the root causes of their occurrence and proffer solutions. Results showed a reduction in the number of the contaminated UHT milk samples from initial 368 to 85. Moreover, the capability index (CP) increased from 0.52 to 1.07. These reductions in the number of contaminated milk samples and increase in CP increased the efficiency from 68.02% to 74.06% and the effectiveness from 88.95% to 96.85%. Thus, PDCA methodology can be successfully applied in the dairy laboratory to reduce the occurrence of errors and increase the processes capability to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of dairy laboratory. Practical applicationsContinuous quality improvement (CQI) is used in process improvement in medicine laboratories for patient's fulfillment, where the implementation of process improvement project in medicine laboratories resulted in a positive influence with more effective and simplicity workflow. Also, CQI in dairy laboratories is considered an essential issue, as the analytical quality assurance plays a fundamental role in the precision of laboratories results. Furthermore, future laboratory accreditation, which is considered a fundamental tool for the dairy manufacture to increase confidence in laboratories outcomes, can be obtained on the basis of quality assurance and improvement precepts. To the best of our knowledge, this current research introduces a method for CQI in the dairy laboratories (PDCA approach) which has not been discussed in previous related work.

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