Microbiological Assessment of Various Ready-To-Eat Foods in Cairo, Egypt, and Studying the Possible Antibacterial Effects of Garlic and Cumin Oils as Food Additives

Abstract

R EADY-TO-EAT (RTE) food contamination has become a global health problem.A bacteriological survey of RTE food samples (54 barbecued chicken meat, 50 meat shawarma, 56 chicken shawarma, 44 grilled fish, 36 fesikh, 48 brackish fish, and 48 sardines) was implemented. The samples were analyzed using standard microbiological techniques. Enterobacteriaceae (67.26%), Aeromonas (5.36%), Pseudomonas (1.19%), S. aureus (9.82%), coagulase-negative staphylococci (11.90%), and Listeria (9.52%) were detected in the examined samples. Different Enterobacteriaceae species were isolated and identified. Neither Campylobacter nor salmonellae were detected. The count of the isolated bacteria in the different collected samples was determined. The antibacterial activities of garlic and cumin oils against different recovered isolates were investigated. The inhibition zone diameters (mm) of garlic and cumin oil were 17 and 14 against Enterobacteriaceae, 16 and 11 against Aeromonas,14 and 12 against Pseudomonas, 20 and 14 against S. aureus and 18 and 12 against Listeria, respectively. This study recommends the application of good hygienic practices in the preparation of RTE foods to improve their hygienic conditions and minimize their bacterial counts which will undoubtedly minimize the public health hazards. Finally, using spices like garlic and cumin as additives in RTE foods may provide better inhibition of foodborne pathogens.