Abstract
Despite the temperatures attained in the preparation of dried milk products and their low moisture content, they may, at time be responsible for transmitting some pathogenic microorganisms to consumers. So, the aim of this study is to assess prevalence of microbiota in some dried dairy products sold at Alexandria City, Egypt. Ninety random samples of dried dairy products including (dried ice cream mix (45), full cream milk powder (15), dried whey protein (15) and (15) dried whipped cream), all dried products in powder status, packaged and unpackaged were purchased from different shops and supermarkets in Alexandria city. The achieved results indicated that all dried ice cream mix samples were conformed with Egyptian specifications for aerobic bacterial count, while 4 (33 %) and x2 (13.34%) of Chocolate and vanilla dried ice cream mix were not complied with the same specification for Coliforms count. Regarding to full cream milk powder and dried whey protein samples, all samples were in accordance with legal specifications for aerobic bacterial count. In contrary, all positive samples for yeast and mold counts were above legal criteria. By comparing, dried whipped cream samples with Legal Egyptian standards only 4 (73.33%) positive samples for mold counts were above established limit. Enteropathogenic E. coli failed to be detected in all examined dried dairy products, these results in accordance with Egyptian Standards. The microbial population detected in terms of numbers and types of microorganisms reflect the poor hygienic standards of production which constituting a public health hazard.

Key words: microbiota, dried dairy products, E. coli ,coliforms and Enterococci