مهدي عبد ربه ظاهر الشويلي

ABSTRACT Background: Meat has been regarded as a very healthy food because of its nutritional value; minced meat is a popular meal; however, microbial contamination may have negative impacts on meat quality and consumer health. Aim: The study aimed to estimate the bacteriological contamination and use of some chemical and natural preservatives in minced meat. Methods: Approximately 103 samples of minced meat were collected from different butchers in Al-Najaf province from December 2024 to March 2025 to monitor their microbiological quality. Biochemical and polymerase chain reaction techniques for 16S rRNA gene amplification were used to confirm the bacterial identity, and the effects of lactic acid (3%), rosemary volatile oil (2%), thyme oil (1.5%), and the combination of thyme (1.5%) and rosemary (2%) were used as antibacterial after immersing the samples with these substances following bacterial counts. Results: Total coliforms, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus were 70%, 58%, and 54%, respectively. Furthermore, the mean values of average bacterial counts of total coliform, E. coli, and S. aureus were 4.35, 3.73, and 3.43 CFU log10/g, respectively. Compared with the control, statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed between the single and combination use of substances and lactic acid. The combination of rosemary and thyme was the most effective, resulting in a reduction of coliform, E. coli, and S. aureus (1.11, 1.95, and 1.42 CFU, respectively) after 7 days. Conclusion: The high levels of contamination detected in the minced meat are an indication of unhygienic production conditions, and the synergistic activity of rosemary and thyme was most effective in reducing contamination. Keywords: Contamination, E. coli, Essential oil, Minced meat, S. aureus.

Milk and cheese were recognized as highly nutritious food due to their high protein, fat and minerals (calcium, phosphorus, iron, and vitamins). Accidental contamination of food through the handlers could have resulted in many kinds of bacteria especially Staphylococcus aureus in the dairy products. Therefore, this study aimed to study variation in bacterial isolation percentage and the bacterial counts in raw milk and locally produced soft cheese in local markets in Baghdad. A total of 150 samples of raw milk and local soft cheese (75 for each) were collected from different regions of Baghdad city from October 2020 to July 2021 to study the evaluation of bacterial contamination. The isolation percentage of total coliform, Fecal coliform, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in the raw milk were 82, 69, 54 and 42%, respectively. While in the soft cheese, the isolation percentage for coliform, Fecal coliform, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were 90, 74, 60 and 45%, respectively. Furthermore, high percentages of bacterial isolation were recorded during summer. The recorded data showed significant (P<0.05) variation for both raw and soft cheese according to months, and soft cheese had a higher isolation percentage than the raw milk samples. The average values of bacterial count values that were isolated from October to February in the raw milk of the total coliform, fecal coliform, E. coli and Staph aureus were 5.57, 4.25, 3.77 and 2.94 cfulog10/mL respectively, which were recorded during the cold months. While the recording of the average values from March to July as hot months were 6.02, 5.02, 5.22 and 3.23 CFU log10/mL, respectively. The average bacterial values in the soft cheese were 6.02, 5.03, 4.97 and 3.67cfu log10 /g, respectively, from October to February and were significantly (P<0.05) less than the summer from March to July, which recorded 7.17, 6.32, 5.01 and 4.15cfu log10/g respectively. The high contamination found in the soft cheese and during hot months compared with raw milk and cold months, respectively, is a sign of unsanitary manufacturing conditions such as post-process contamination, high temperature in summer, and lack of refrigeration during long-distance transportation.

Samples for both raw milk and locally produced soft cheese totally (150), 75 for each were collected from different regions of Baghdad from October 2020 to July 2021 to estimate nitrite concentration. Ion exchange chromatography was used to detect the nitrite levels in the samples. The Limit of Detection (LOD) and Limit of Quantification (LOQ) were 0.5 mg/L and 1.7 mg/L respectively. The levels of nitrite in the samples of raw milk were (0.5-1.5 mg/L) with average (0.9 ± 0.4 mg/L), while the concentrations were (0.8-2.3 g/kg) in the soft cheese samples with average (1.4 ± 0.4 g/kg). The nitrite level in the soft cheese was higher than in the raw milk according to the months significantly (P<0.05). The presence of nitrite in milk and cheese indicates a poorness of hygiene practices during milking and post-milking operations, as well as during cheese production.

This experiment was conducted on 120 unsexed Cobb chicks of one day old for 28 days. Chicks were randomly divided into 4 groups (30 chicks each) and each group consists of two replicates (15 chicks each). All groups was fed using a basal diet, but the first group drunk water from the tap as a control, while the other drunk water with extract of Eruca Sativa leaves (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75ml/Liter) respectively. This study aimed to determine the effect of extraction of Eruca Sativa leaves on broiler performance, some blood parameters and immune response to Newcastle virus. The result showed that the supplementation of the broiler diet with extraction of Eruca sativa especially of levels (0.25 and 0.50ml/L) significantly improve the final body weight (P≤0.05). The weight gain also significantly improved (P≤0.05) but, there were no significantly changes in the weight of internal organs and blood pictures (WBCs, RBCs, Hb and PCV respectively). The antibody titer against the Newcastle virus found to be significantly increased (P≤0.05).

This study was conducted in orderto determine the effect of magnetic water on performance, biochemical and some milk composition of ewes.For that purpose, twelve ewes were used. These ewesdistributed randomly into three equal groups (4 ewes per each group). The first grouptreated witha tap water and considered as control group. Second group treated by a magnetic-treated water with 250gauss. Finally, third group received magnetic–treated water(250 gauss) mixed with molasses (250 g/20 litters).All groups were fed by the same ration during the experiment. The experiment was lasted for about 6 weeks. The results indicate that the administration of magnetic–treated water mixed with molasses resulted in a significant increase(P<0.05) of live body weight. Furthermore, it also leads to enhance some biochemical parameters (total protein and glucose) and some of milk compositions (protein, fat and NSF). However, our results showedthat there was no significant differences were found in cholesterol, creatinine, AST and ALT during use of magnetic–treated water mixed with molasses.

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of adding the powder of garlic, ginger and cinnamon to the diet of turkey at a level of 5% on its performance and some blood parameters. A total of 56 unsexed turkeys of 28 old days were allocated into four dietary groups (14 birds each) in a complete randomized design. The groups were as follow: 1. Control (basal diet), 2. Garlic (5%), 3. Ginger (5%), 4. Cinnamon (5%). The addition of garlic, ginger and cinammon had significant effects (P<0.05) on live body weight, weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and organs weight (liver and gizzard) and dressing percentage expect of heart weight there is no significant effect (P>0.05). The adding garlic (5%), ginger (5%), and cinnamon (5%) to the turkey diets decreasing the AST, ALT and glucose levels. No difference was observed in cholesterol, total protein and creatinine.