Incidence of Some Food borne Pathogens, Heavy Metal Residues and Aflatoxin M1 in Imported Skimmed Milk Powder

Out of 3275 imported skim milk powder packed in 20 Kg paper bags, 95 samples were randomly selected.Milk powder paper bags were imported from USA (n=1315), France (n=940), Denmark (n=555) and Germany (n=465) through Cairo Airport during 2016. The samples were taken as following, 40, 20, 20 and 15 samples from consignments imported from USA, France, Denmark, Germany, respectively. Collected samples were analyzed for the presence of some foodborne pathogens as Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The samples were also examined for the presence of heavy metal residues and Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) contamination. The results showed that all samples were free from the examined foodborne pathogens. The heavy metal residues screening revealed that the percentages of presence of lead in the samples imported from USA, France, Denmark and Germany were 22.5, 35, 30 and 26.7% respectively, the percentages of presence of cadmium were 17.5, 20, 25 and 13.3 respectively, the percentages of presence of mercury were 12.5, 15, 10 and 13.5% respectively and AFM1 were detected in 25, 35, 20 and 20% respectively. However, no samples have concentrations exceeding the permissible limits recommended by Egyptian standard. It can be concluded that the examined imported skimmed milk powder samples were free from pathogenic microorganisms and the hazardous metals and Aflatoxin M1 were within the permissible limits and such skimmed milk powder could be judged safe for human consumption.