Microbial Food Safety Challenges of Traditional Foods (Gueddid and Lben) of Libya

Abstract

Gueddid (salty dry meat) and Lben (fermented butter milk) are valued Libyan traditional foods which are mostly prepared at a household level. A total of 25 samples each of Gueddid and Lben were collected from retail producers in Tripoli to evaluate their microbial safety. In Gueddid, 40% of samples had total aerobic count (TAC) 66 x 104 ± 73 x 103 CFU/g and Enterococci 52 x 104 ± 86 x 103 CFU/g. 20% of samples were contaminated with different Staphylococci 33 x 104 ± 58 x 103 CFU/g and 10% of samples contained Staphylococcus aureus 48 x 103 ± 66 x 102 CFU/g. 10% of samples contained Coliform 60 x 103 ± 80 x 102 CFU/g. 35% of samples contained yeast 56 x 103 ± 92 x 102 CFU/g. In Lben, all samples showed high TAC 40 x 106 ± 81 x 105 CFU/mL and all samples were contaminated with Coliform 69 x 105 ± 10 x 105 CFU/mL. 84% of samples contained Enterococci 13 x 106 ± 52 x 104 CFU/mL. 80% of samples had Staphylococci 37 x 105 ± 78 x 104 CFU/mL. 40% of samples contained S. aureus 46 x 104 ± 79 x 103 CFU/mL. 92% of samples contained yeast 74 x 105 ± 88 x 104 CFU/mL. Gueddid contains low microbial counts and is generally regarded as safe as it is consumed cooked. Majority of Lben samples contain high microbial load despite of their low pH. More control measures should be adopted for improving fermented food microbial safety.