Evaluation of the mycological status of luncheon meat with special reference to aflatoxigenic moulds and aflatoxin residues

The luncheon meat samples analyzed, which were produced locally by the two main luncheon meat producing companies in Egypt were relatively highly cont aminated either by moulds and yeasts in general, aflatoxigenic species and aflatoxin residues in particular. The most frequently encountered fungi fro m the samples were yeasts, Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, Penicillium chryso genum, Rhizopus stolonifer, Mucor circinelloides. Less common were Cladospo rium sphaerospermum, Alternaria alternata, Mycosphaerella tassiana, P. aura ntiogriseum and P. oxalicum. The most important aflatoxigenic species, A. f lavus, was isolated frequently. It was 10% of the total fungal isolates fro m both samples of the two companies. Seven luncheon meat samples out of 50 analyzed were positive for aflatoxin B-1 or B-1 and G(1), while all samples were negative for aflatoxins B-2, G(2), M-1 and M-2. Aflatoxin B-1 was det ected only in 4 and 3 samples out of 25 analyzed from each of company A and B, respectively. The highest detectable level, 11.1 ppb, was recorded in a sample from company B and the least, 0.5 ppb, in a sample from company A. Aflatoxin G(1), at concentration of 3.2 ppb, was detected in only one sampl e of the aflatoxin B-1 - contaminated 3 samples of company B: this sample a lso had the highest level of aflatoxin B-1. Some luncheon meat samples had higher numbers of aflatoxigenic A. flavus than others, however these sample s were negative for aflatoxins. The hazardous potential of such contaminati on will be discussed.