Evaluation of microbial contamination and chemical properties of traditional liquid Kashks supplied in Hamedan city

The purpose of this study was to investigate the conformity or non-conformity of traditional liquid Kashks supplied in Hamedan city with the national standard of Iran. To carry out this research, Kashk samples from manufactures of traditional dairy products (in Hamedan city) were prepared in two stages and transferred to the food quality control laboratory for examination. Microbial population (total count, staphylococcus, coliform, and mold-yeast), chemical properties (total solids %, salt, acidity, and pH) and color parameters including lightness (L*), redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) of tradition Kashk was examined and after statistical analysis, their results were reported. The average number of microorganisms (total count), staphylococcus and coliform in the Kashk samples were 7.28 Log cfu/g, 4.09 Log cfu/g, and 1.64 Log cfu/g, respectively. According to the national standard of Iran, the maximum number of mold and yeast in liquid Kashk should be 2 Log cfu/g, but the average number of mold and yeast in the prepared Kashks were 7.39 Log cfu/g, which is much higher than the specified standard for this product. The average of total solid of Kashks were 21.15%, which was less than the defined standard (at least 25%) for it. Also, the average of moisture, salt, acidity, and pH of examined Kashks in this research were 78.85%, 1.98%, 1.90%, and 4.09 respectively. Color parameters of Kashk samples were examined and the average color indexes including lightness, redness, and yellowness of the samples were 84.52, 1.53 and 6.43 respectively. Of course, no statistically significant difference was observed between the color indexes values of the samples (p>0.05).