A simple, rapid and reliable method using gel permeation chromatography (GPC) clean-up was developed for determination of aflatoxins B 1, B2, G I and G2 in various spices such as hot chilli, dry coriander, anise seeds and nigela staveia. After extraction of samples by chloroform in the presence of sodium chloride solution and clean-up by GPC, aflatoxins and aflatoxins- TFA derivatives were determined using HPLC with fluorescence detection. The limit of quantification was found to be significantly lower than current regulatory limits for afltoxin limits of EU. Recoveries for each aflatoxin Bl, B2, G1 and G2 spiked to various spices at concentration levels of 2.0 and 4.0 µg/kg was found to be 80-120%. The repeatability (RSdR %) and reproducibility (RSdR %) were in the range of 2-l4 and I 1-15% respectively.
Key words: Food analysis, mycotoxins, aflatoxins, gel permeation chromatography, HPLC, spices.

A simple, rapid and reliable method using gel permeation chromatography (GPC) clean-up was developed for determination of aflatoxins B 1, B2, G I and G2 in various spices such as hot chilli, dry coriander, anise seeds and nigela staveia. After extraction of samples by chloroform in the presence of sodium chloride solution and clean-up by GPC, aflatoxins and aflatoxins- TFA derivatives were determined using HPLC with fluorescence detection. The limit of quantification was found to be significantly lower than current regulatory limits for afltoxin limits of EU. Recoveries for each aflatoxin Bl, B2, G1 and G2 spiked to various spices at concentration levels of 2.0 and 4.0 µg/kg was found to be 80-120%. The repeatability (RSdR %) and reproducibility (RSdR %) were in the range of 2-l4 and I 1-15% respectively.
Key words: Food analysis, mycotoxins, aflatoxins, gel permeation chromatography, HPLC, spices.

Food establishment could be a good source of spreading food born diseases. Some food products, such as salad, which don't require heating during their preparation, are potentially dangerous for the consumers. Therefore, good hygiene practice is very important for the preparation of salad. The aim of this study was to monitor the hygienic status maintained during the preparation of salads in the local restaurants in Cairo, Egypt. A total of 240 samples of different items of salads were collected randomly from several restaurants in Cairo. Microbiological analysis has been done for the detection of some emerging pathogens. It was found that Salmonella spp. was detected in 20%, 6.7%, 3.3%, 6.7%, 13% and 3.3% of samples from green salad, Tabola, Humus, Tehina. , Mayonnaise, Yoghurt respectively. While Shigella and Listeria monocytogen were detected only in Green salad and Tabola in the same percentage of 13% and 3.3% respectively. High Enterobacteriacae and Coliform counts were detected in Green salad, Toboola and Cucumber at percentage (100%,100% and 66.7%) and (100 % . 90% and 16.7% ) respectively. While the lowest percent of detection of Escherichia coli was in Green Salad and Cucumber at percentage 33% and 3.3% respectively. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from five kinds of salads{ Green salad.Toboola, Tehina, 8ab Ganooch and Mayonize in percent ranged from 16.7 % to 90%.
These results are an indication that the possibility of contaminated raw materials, un deaned equipments and unhygienic food handlers are the main sources of contamination of salads. Inspection of food establishment should be concentrated on the way of preparing salads as well as on the equipments. raw material used and the hygienic condition of the establishment and the food handlers.

The aim of this investigation is to determine the chemical and microbiological hazards and critical control points during the manutactur of soft cheese for developing of HACCP plan for this product. Results indicated that raw milk was the most hazardous. It harbored high bacterial count, with 25% of the tested samples being contaminated with Brucella and contained start new sentence 0.15-0.26 mg Cu / Kg but it was free from lead and mercury. Other raw ingredients i.e. dried milk, salt, coconut oil and rennet were also examined for chemical and microbiological hazards. Results also showed that receiving raw milk, pasteurization of pre cheese milk and storage temperature of cheese were found to be the obvious CCPs used to eliminate, prevent or minimize different hazards. Receipt of raw milk must be from certified, hazards-free milk and time / temperature treatment must be not less than 85 °C / 20 sec. as well as storage temperature which must not more than 5° C were the critical limits. Recording time / temperature treatment of milk and the storage temperature can be used as monitoring procedures. All guidelines for the implementation of HACCP system including a flow diagram of processing steps, identifying hazards, controlling at different CCPs through monitoring, corrective active and verifying the HACCP plan as well as record keeping were also established.

The aim of the present work is to determine the physical, chemical properties and some pathogenic densities include psychrophilies, mesophilies, Staphyloccus aureus, Clostridia spp, Salmonella spp, Shigella Spp., Compylobacter spp, total coliform and L. monocytogenes in some chicken procducts purshared from local markets in Cairo city. The results showed that the protein percentage ranged from 15.2% to 15.6% in burger, 13.3% to 13.4% in nuggets, 13.45% to 16.3% in kofta, 11.3% to 14% in luncheon and 13.5% to 14.96% in sausage. Thiobarbituric acid (TBA) mg/ 100g ranged from 0 to 2.69 mg/ 100g in luncheon, sausage, burger, kofta and nuggets.
Microbiological counts showed that all the examined samples ranged from 88 x 104 to 15 x 107 in aerobic bacterial count. All the examined samples were accepted with Egyptian Standard method for psychrophilic bacteria, mesophilic bacteria, Staph. aureus and clostridia except sausage samples collected from Nasr City for Staph aureus. Also for kofta and nuggets exeption was in mesophilic for samples collected from Shubra, Nasr City and Down Town. However, all the samples are free from Salmonella, Shigella and E. coli except the samples collected from Shubra and Down Town. For the campylobacter, in Shubra, it was found in 66.5 and 33.5% for burger and nuggets, respectively. In Down Town; it was found in 33.5, 66.5, 66.5 and 33.5% for burger nuggets, kofta and luncheon.

Spraying strawberry plants with any of the following fungicides, dichlofluanid (Euparen) 50% WP, iprodione (Rovral) 50% WP and procymidone (Sumisclex) 50% WP resulted in significant reduction of the natural infection with fruit-rots with significant increase to the marketable fruits compared with control treatment. Significant variations were observed in the rate of fruit-rot infection and the fruit yield due to the effect of the tested fungicides and the growing season.
The residues of the tested fungicides (mg a.i./kg fruits) in the harvested fruits were gradually decreased by increasing the interval following spraying.. Slow degradation of dichlofluanid 50% WP was observed in and on the fruits five days after application. Then fast dessipation occurred until complete disappearce of the residues after 45 days. On the other hand, the degradation of iprodione 50% WP and procymidone 50% WP was faster in the first week then turned to be slower but their residues were still detected at the 45th day.
Refering to the Maximum Residue Limits of the Codex Alimentarius Commission indicating 10 mg/kg for each of the fungicides under experiment on strawberry fruits. The Pre-Harvet Intervals (Pill's) of dichlofluanid 50%WP, iprodione 50%WP and procymidone 50%WP are 7, 2 and 3 days, respectively. Human consumption of strawberries following the identified withholding periods would be safer and reduce the risk for consumer health.
According to the agricultural practices, the strawberry fruits are harvested every 3 days. For this reason, the use of dichlofluanid should be restricted to be applied 7 days (Pill) before start collecting the strawberry fruits and not permitted for application during the harvesting season. Iprodione and procymidone having shorter Pill's 2 and 3 days which enable using them during the harvesting season.

A study of Malathion residue was conducted in the central laboratory pesticide residues analysis and heavy metals. Malathion one of the most widely applied organophosphate insecticide, It is a slightly toxic compound in EP A toxicity class ΙΙΙ. A total of 12919 samples of 57 different types of fruit, vegetables and aromatic medicinal plants samples were examined for malathion residues during 2002, eighteen commodities represent 28.65 % were completely free of malathion residues. Thirty nine commodities represent total 9218 samples fruit (362), vegetables (1643) and aromatic medicinal plants (7213) with percentages 71~35 % of total examined samples have malathion residues. Only 4.43 % of total contaminated commodities (408 samples) were below limit of determination (LOD = 0.02 ppm), 22.07 % at LOD or more However 77.93 % or those samples are not contaminated with malathion residues. Only 6.06 % of the samples exceeded MRL's of malathion residues comparing with national, codex 'and EU-MRL's Malathion residues was the detected frequently in Lemon and pomegranate samples with percentages of 20 % and 15.15 %, respectively. Lemon showed the highest violation percentages 13.33 %. The main contributors to total intake of malathion is root vegetables 56.57 %. The major contributors crops to total intake of malathion are potatoes 47.95 %. Data showed that our results goes with the EP A total diet studies results. The total dietary intake of malathion 0.0011 mg/kg. body weight /day is lower than ADI (0.02 mg/kg body weight) and contributing only 5.5 % of ADI . Therefore dietary exposures to malathion are still so far and not a case for Egyptian consumer concern
Key words: Malathion, Exposure assessment, Residue, Monitoring, Fruits and Vegetables, Herbs, Aromatic and medicinal plants

A total of 26 medicinal plant samples were collected from herbal shops either in packed or unpacked form at Cairo local markets during 2002. The samples were selected based on their medical action i.e. flu, slimming, renal, rheumatic, intestinal colic, laxative, calm, acne, lactagogue, sedative and headache. Samples were analyzed for the detection of 21organophosphorous, organonitrogen residues and microbial assays. In the analysed samples of unpacked products profenofos, malathion and chlorpyrifos were predominated in all samples. The obtained results indicated that all samples collected from one of the packed products were contaminated with pesticide residues. The data showed relatively higher contamination in most of the samples with different microbes in unpacked products than the packed ones. Salmonella was not found in all tested samples and all the samples were found to be free from Salmonella.
Key: Words: Pesticide residues. Organophosphorus compounds, Pathogenic microorganism, medicinal plants

A one-year study was carried out to scan the microbiological quality of poultry eggs distributed in Egyptian market and also collected from farms in order to determine the egg safety from production to consumption. This study was intended to identify the status of egg safety as one component of the public health issue of food safety. Five that produce eggs farms were surveyed to ensure that standard health programs were applied thoroughly in order to prevent diseases and provide good environmental conditions in the laying houses. One thousand and eight hundred eggs representative 120 batchs of field samples were collected from five different farm, supermarkets, and shops of selling egg and from open markets. High total plate count was detected in both the egg collected from open markets and farms. However, detection of organisms (total Coliform , Faecal colifO/111 and E coli) were detected in either samples collected from farms or market, which reflects temperature abuse during storage and handling. Data recorded that, the colifo/111 was detected in 86.7%, 56.7%, 86.7% and 100% of egg samples collected from farms, supermarkets, egg shops and open markets, respectively. Faecal colifo/111 was detected in 53.3%,63.3% of eggs that collected from farms and open markets. E .coli was detected in 43.3% and 26.7% in egg collected from farms and open markets. Faecal colifO/111 and E coli not detected in the eggs collected from supermarkets and egg selling shops. The highest isolation frequency of bacillus spp. was found in egg collected from open markets (22.7%), while the lowest was in egg sample collected from supermarket ( 3.3%) . Staphylococcus species were isolated at high frequency of 76.7%,66.7% and 33.3% from eggs collected from open market, egg shop and farms, respectively, while the lowest isolation was detected in those eggs collected from supermarket (6.7%). Salmonella species were isolated at various frequencies of 76.7%, 66.7%, 56.7% and 10% from egg collected from open markets, egg shops, farms and supermarkets, respectively.
There is a need for new guidelines for the proper production, marketing and handling of eggs to ensure egg safety. Minimization of the incidence of food born illness could be gained through quality-control programs, refrigeration during transport and storage, and food-safety education for home and hotels egg consumers.

A total of 168 samples representing 24 samples of each of the following vegetables: tomato, cucumber, cress, green parsley, green coriander, green dill and lettuce were collected. Six samples of each were washed with tap water(with several changes of tap water then soaked in water for 15 min), 20% of the commercial vinegar that contain 6% acetic acid [1.2% acetic acid], 30% vinegar [1.8% acetic acid. These samples that treated with vinegar were firstly washed with water then soaked in either vinegar 30% [1.8% acetic acid] or vinegar 20%[ 1.2% acetic acid] for 30 min). Another six sample of each the used raw vegetables were washed with water then soaked in 1 g potassium permanganate per 1000 ml water for 15 min. All samples subjected to microbia! analysis before and after different treatments.
Salmonella were not detected in tomato samples. The percentage of Salmonella reduction on different tested commodity by using tap water was ranged between 33.3% to 100% . while the percentage of reduction in case of washing with 20% vinegar was ranged between 66.6% to 100%. On the other hand, the percentage of reduction in case of washing with 30% vinegar and 0.1 % potassium permanganates were 100%.
The effect of washing with tap water on total aerobic bacterial count, Enterobactericea, Coliform, Faecal (rhermotolerant) coliform and E coli were ranged from 7.9% up to 18.6% , 8.5% up to 40.9%, 8.3% up to 32.6% ,10.8% up to 24.1 % and 0% up to 51.02% respectively.
The effect of washing with 20% vinegar on total aerobic bacterial count, Enterobactericea, Colifor.m, Faecal (rhermotolerant) coliform and E coli were ranged from 13.1% up to 31.4%,16.1% up to 42.8% , 6.1% up to 39.9%,12.2% up to 40.3% and 2.1% up to 48.9% respectively. However, washing with 30% vinegar resulted in higher percentage of reduction of total aerobic bacterial count, Enterobactericea, Colifor.m, F. coliform and E. coli in all vegetable samples relative to washing with tap water, 20%vinegar 1.2% acetic acid and 0.1% potassium permanganate. The percentages of reduction on total aerobic bacterial count, Enterobactericea, Colifor.m, Faecal (Thermotolerant) coliform and E coli were ranged from, 26.8% up to 46.2%, 34.9% up to 60.2%,24.2% up to 59.3% ,30.6% up to 66.6% and 51.5% up to 100% , respectively.