Ecoli found in Egyptian dairy products
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An Osaka Metropolitan University-led, Egypt-Japan research team found E. coli prevalent in over 25% of popular milk and dairy products in Egypt, according to a report on www.news-medical.net.
Of the 210 samples of raw milk, cheese, and yogurt, 26.2% were positive for E. coli, with the highest being raw buffalo milk at 68%, and the lowest at 7.5% for rayeb, a type of fermented milk. The preference for raw milk instead of pasteurised milk and varying hygienic conditions at small dairies and markets could explain these results, the researchers say. Yet food poisoning affects every country, even ones viewed as being extremely hygienic such as Japan.
The researchers found that one of the E. coli strains they isolated from the samples collected in 2018 in Egypt had the same characteristics as the E. coli that caused food poisoning in Japan’s central Toyama Prefecture in 2021. During that case, contaminated milk affected more than 1,800 children across 25 schools.
