Screening Local Milk Products for Fungi

Mycological investigation of (135) samples of milk products collected from various stores in Mosul city. Results revealed that Aspergillus niger and Pencillium spp were found in 8.69%, 60.9% of homemade milk products, while they were observed in 2.5%, 82.08% in canned milk products respectively. Also 8.96% of canned milk product samples had Cladosporium spp, while other fungi were less common. The yeasts candida albicans and Rhodotrula spp occurred in 98.78%, 0.22% of homemade products, while they were found at 98.58% and 1.42% in canned-milk products, respectively. Geotrichium candidum was found in 1.0% of home-made dairy products. The results showed that the isolated fungi have the ability of hydrolysing milk lipids due to the production of lipase.