Microbiological safety and quality survey of some dairy confectioneries with cream filling and topping

BACKGROUND: Dairy confectionaries are recently categorized as an important part of different consumers’ diets with increasing demand for cream-based cakes “Tourta” and gateau which are used as celebrating food for almost all occasions and celebrations. AIM: The study was designed for evaluating general quality and safety of such products. METHODS: 100 cream-based (for topping and filing) samples; 50 cakes “Tourta” and 50 gateau, were purchased separately from several pastry shops covering international, national, and local brands in Great Cairo, Egypt, and subjected to microbiological analysis. RESULTS: Results showed that international brands were the best for gateau samples while national brands were the best quality for cake samples. Regardless of the brand, the general hygienic quality of the cake product “Tourta” was lower on an average total colony, coliforms, yeast, and mold counts as compared with the gateau product. Although coliforms were found in 100% of the examined samples with the highest mean value of 33 × 10(2) ± 7.0 × 10(2) CFU/g in local gateau samples, Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. could not be detected in these samples. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from 8% of the total examined samples with the highest incidence of (22.2%) and a mean count of 38 × 10 ± 6.0 × 10 CFU/g in local brand gateau samples. Bacillus cereus was extensively isolated with the highest incidence in cake samples (32%) and mean counts higher than 10(3) in all of the examined samples. Bacillus cereus strains have harbored more than one toxigenic gene. In this aspect, nhe gene was the most predominant one as it was detected in 100% of the examined isolates, followed by cytK gene in 80%, whilehbl and ces genes could not be found. According to the Egyptian Standard specifications for cake (ES: 4037/2020), a higher acceptability degree was reported for the international brand gateau and cake “Tourta” samples. The incidence of using any preservative as an inhibitory substance was also analyzed generally using the Bacillus subtilis disk assay technique, but all samples were negative using this technique indicating the need for a more advanced technique for its detection such as using high-performance liquid chromatography. CONCLUSION: Finally, it was concluded that; more attention is needed to cream-based cakes’ quality and safety, with essential modification required in the standards of cakes in Egypt.