Honey is used worldwide due to its medicinal and nutritional properties. Antibiotics are used to treat diseases such as American foulbrood and European foulbrood or as a drug for preventing disease in the beehives. Antibiotic residues should be carefully monitored because they can have adverse effects on the general health of human. In this study, the amount of tetracycline residue was measured in honey samples. A total of 80 honey samples were collected from different regions of Qazvin province, Iran. The methods used included enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) assay and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). ELISA method showed that the maximum and minimum levels of tetracycline residue were 40 ppb and 1.26 ppb, respectively. The areas with values above the kit’s LOD include Takestan (14.28%), Abeyek (4.76%), and Alamot-e-gharbi (4.54%), respectively. In the Alamot-e-sharghi samples, the antibiotic values above the kit’s LOD were not found. Samples with values above the kit’s LOD in ELISA method were measured using HPLC method. According to ELISA results, of the 80 honey samples, 4 samples (5%) had antibiotic more than the highest LOD of the kit. These 4 samples were tested using HPLC method. The results of HPLC showed that out of 4 honey samples, one sample was more than 40 ppb, but 3 samples were less than 40 ppb. There is a significant difference between ELISA and HPLC (p < 0.05). If the antibiotic residue levels of tetracycline are too high in food, it can cause serious harm to the health of consumers, therefore, monitoring of antibiotics residue in food is very necessary. Manuscript profile

The recent tendency in cheese production is to produce flavored cheese using natural flavoring materials with nutritional and high-quality microbial value for human consumption. This research is aimed at investigating the microbiological and physicochemical properties of processed peppery cheese. Samples were kept under the three temperatures of 6, 25 and 37°C; microbial and physicochemical evaluations were performed on the samples immediately after being produced, after the end of each month from the production date until 4 months, and one month after the expiration date. The test was performed using a sample of processed cheese without pepper powder. The used plan was quite random, and it was repeated for 3 times in every treatment. The results of physicochemical analyses of peppery cheese compared to the control sample indicated that the peppery cheese had lower changes in pH, dry matter content and texture during the period of being kept under different temperatures and less microbial contamination was observed in it compared to the control cheese. The obtained results showed that the peppery cheese could keep the product quality better than the control cheese under different time and temperature conditions of treatments while highly controlling the changes in the chemical and microbial factors. Manuscript profile

Adulteration of honey is a major problem in the world, due to its high nutritional value and the expensive cost of honey. Thus, the quality of honey produced in different regions must be assessed to protect the rights of consumers. The study aims to investigate the physicochemical (hydroxymethylfurfural: HMF, moisture, ash, electrical conductivity, pH, total acidity, diastase activity, and reduction sugar), and microbiological (clostridium perfringens, molds, and osmotolerant yeasts) parameters of 43 honey samples. All the honey samples were collected from Qazvin province, Iran. Our results demonstrate that pH and acidity values in all of the honey samples were in the accepted limit and other physicochemical parameters include HMF (44.18%), reduction sugar (9.30%), moisture (2.32%), sucrose (53.48%), diastase activity (58.13%), fructose/glucose ratio (25.58%), electrical conductivity (9.30%) and ash (4.65%) were below the acceptable quality level. All the honey samples were in the acceptable range in terms of microbial quality (yeast, fungi and, Clostridia). All the honey samples are within expected microbial levels but in non-standard physicochemical conditions. Our results indicate that you can use fast, inexpensive and safe tests for identifying the adulteration in a variety of honeys (commercial and non-commercial). These measurements should be widely practiced by governmental organizations determine a fair and reasonable price for each product. Manuscript profile

Although milk and dairy products are considered as nutritious food for human, it serves as a beneficent medium for the growth of many microorganisms such as psychrotrophic microorganisms (PMs). PMs can be affected by the milk quality and dairy products by production thermostable enzymes. The present study aimed to evaluated the psychrotrophic microorganisms count (PMsC) of raw cow milk samples in milk collection centers. A total of 60 raw cow milk samples were collected from 15 main milk collection centers located in Qazvin, Iran for a period of one year (four seasons). The mean±SD of PMs, Ph, and acidity levels for a period of one year was 4.83±0.43 Log10 CFU/ml, 6.30±0.41, and 20.13±3.21°D, respectively. PMsC, Ph, and acidity levels in cold seasons (autumn and winter) were greater than warm seasons (spring and summer). It may be expected that PMs values can affect the pH and acidity levels while no significant relationship (P>0.05) was found among PMs, Ph, and acidity levels. Seasonal variations had a significant effect (P<0.05) on PMs values while seasonal variations had no significant effect (P>0.05) on the pH and acidity levels. 55% (33 out of 60) of milk samples were in the accepted limit. Milk quality properties in Qazvin in terms of PMs were relatively within the hygienic standards limit. Manuscript profile