Microbiological Evaluation Of Marketed Butter In Khartoum Governorate

Sixty samples of butter were randomly collected from different retail sales in Khartoum state. The objectives were: 1. Evaluate the level of yeasts and moulds with total aerobic counts, total coliform bacteria in the imported and locally manufactured butter; 2. Relating these levels to the standard values and comparing between the imported and the locally manufactured product in this respect. 3. To study the association between the source of butter (imported / locally manufactured) and presence / absence of yeasts and moulds. 4. To investigate the incidence (%) of yeasts and different moulds genera in locally manufactured and imported butter. The overall mean counts of yeasts and moulds was 86855.25 ± 38144.31 c.f.u/g. This level was exceeding far than the standard values. The overall mean of the total aerobic counts 1952758.33 ± 431788 c.f.u/g. Similarly this value was far from the standards. The mean of the total coliform was 348.13 ± 74.82 MPN/g. This value was also above the standard one. Highly significant differences were recorded in the levels of yeast and moulds between the locally manufactured and imported butter. The mean of yeasts and moulds counted in the locally manufactured butter was greater than the standards (133446.15 ± 57552.20 c.f.u/g), whereas in the imported was in conformity with the (SMS) standard value (329.29 ± 193.32 c.f.u/g). The total coliforms in the locally manufactured butter (535.10 ± 103.65 MPN/g) was very highly significantly different from the imported one (0.90 ± 0.90 MPN/g). The locally manufactured butter was far from all the standard values. There was no significant association between the source of butter (locally manufactured / imported) and presence and absence of yeast and mould genera. There was very highly significant difference between the incidence of Aspergillus in locally manufactured and imported butter. There were no significant differences between the locally manufactured and imported butter in the incidence of Rhizopus, Penicillium, Fusarium and Alternaria. The results indicate that the contamination of locally manufactured butter by yeasts, moulds, aerobic bacteria and coliform bacteria is serious and need to be managed. The present study recommended several precautionary measures