PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES, HEAVY METALS AND MICROBIAL CONTAMINATION OF CHIA-FORTIFIED BASSISSA

Microbiological and heavy metals safety are important issue for food preparation. Therefore, the objectives of the current study were investigation the physicochemical properties and microbial and heavy metals contaminations of a tradition food called bassissa. Three types of bassissa were prepared using some cereals, legumes and spices according to three different region in Libya (Gharyan, Zintan and Tripoli). Also, bassissa samples were fortified with chia powder by 5 and 10%. The obtained findings presented that Gharyan bassissa sample possessed the highest level of moisture, fat, and ash in comparison to Zintan and Tripoli samples. It was observed that chia-fortified bassissa had greater concentration of all the measured compounds compared to the control bassissa. Tripoli sample had the highest content of protein, when chia was added by 10% (24.27±0.27%); however this value did not significantly (p ≤ 0.05) differed with that of Zintan sample (23.08±0.09%). The results of the study exhibited that chia-fortified Tripoli sample had the highest value of cadmium and cobalt. The outcomes of the studied samples displayed that the quantity of lead and tin did not detected. Tripoli sample had the highest content of Cu. The findings observed that Cu amount increased with chia addition. Tripoli sample recorded the highest value of total bacteria (2.5×104 ± 0.01 c.f.u/g) and the lowest was in Gharyan sample (1.6×104 ± 0.01 c.f.u/g). The results presented that Tripoli bassissa recorded the highest number of yeasts with or without chia powder. The same trend was observed for the number of molds, however, Zintan sample recorded the greatest number of molds.