Skip to main content

A New Study on Processed Meat Asserts

Beef Burger, Pastrami, and Sausages are the most common types of processed meat to be fungal contaminated. In her Master’s Thesis on “Fungi spoiling products of processed meats,” researcher Radwa Ramadan Sayed Refaaie, Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, University of Assiut,  studied  the fungi content in processed meat at grocery stores and supermarkets in Assiut. The researcher examined the fungi toxins contaminating these products, and the enzymes produced by fungal species isolated from the meat products. The study also focused the effect of chopped garlic and clove oil on fungal growth. The researcher has come to the conclusion that the samples Beef Burger is the most fungal polluted, followed by samples of Pastrami  and sausage. Besides, other  samples of luncheon meat and canned  beef included a relatively smaller number of these fungi. Results also maintained that poisonous aflatoxin fungus is the most common in processed meat. The study recommends careful treatment of meat products before, during and after its processing, careful preservation and handling in proper healthy  environment and conditions. She also recommends buyer to purchase from these types of meats from companies which follow the standard ways of meat processing.