Heat treatment is indispensable in fish canning to provide an acceptable shelf life. Its optimisation reduces the risk of the presence of Clostridium botulinum spores, which could potentially cause botulism cases. This study evaluated canned fish samples for botulism neurotoxin (BoNT)-producing clostridia contamination and can bulging through microbiological contaminant growth. A new analytical approach was developed for detection of such clostridia and phenotypically similar species.

Seventy five white cheese, semi-white cheese and cream (25 samples of each )were randomly collected from different area in basrah city and were investigated for microbiological quality.In these samples, the numbers of microorganisms were found as follows:14.13x104 cfu/g ,16.46x103 cfu/g and 12.36x103 cfu/g for total mesophilic bacteria , 9.87 X102 cfu/g total Psychrotrophic bacteria of cream , 12.92 X103 cfu/g, 6.97X102 cfu/g and 6.13 X102 cfu/g staphylococcus aureus, 98.72 X103 cfu/g,10.55 X102 cfu/g and 6.54 X102 cfu/g coliform count , 21.77 X102 cfu/g , 6.47 X102 cfu/g and 6.40 X102 cfu/g Escherichia coli .Total Psychrotrophic bacteria were not detected in white cheese and semi-white cheese . Significant (p<0.05) variations were found between raw white cheese, semi-white cheese and cream whereas no Significant variations were found between semi-white cheese and cream for all microbial group. The microbiological findings showed the presence of high counts of microorganisms investigated and the poor hygienic quality