Abstract
One hundred random Vanilla ice cream samples were collected from retail stores in El-Behera and Alexandria Governorates to assess their hygienic quality. The results revealed that, the mean value of sensory score for examined Vanilla ice cream samples, appearance, colour, odour, taste and texture, were 8.15, 7.30, 8.38, 7.28, and 8.51, respectively. The result revealed that the average total viable count which was 3.35 x 104 ± 3.35 x 104 cfu /ml. It was found that microbial contamination and proliferation of viable bacteria occurred in 24% of examined Vanilla ice cream samples. The average Coliform count obtained from the study was 4.58 x103 ± 1.5 x 103 cfu/ml, the presence of numbers of Coliforms in Vanilla ice cream samples were fairly high (10/ml) indicated the poor hygienic practices during manufacture, post process contamination and unsatisfactory transportation. Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia and Citrobacter sp. were isolated and identified from the examined ice cream samples. The average staphylococcus aureus count as revealed in the samples of Vanilla ice cream was 1.10 x 103 ± 2.45 x 102 cfu/ml, which could be associated with potential food poisoning hazards. The results demonstrated that repeated electricity shuts for long periods in addition to poor handling of such perishable products may be the reason of their contamination. It is recommended to launch awareness programs to minimize the contamination of ice cream products.

Key words: Hygienic Quality, Ice Cream, contamination