An-Najah Staff

The objective of this study was to investigate the presence of anti-T. gondii in goats raised on farms in the Jenin and Tulkarm districts in the north of Palestine. The investigation was conducted on 14 herds comprising of 280 goats. Blood samples were collected via the jugular veins of 151 goats during the period from January to December 2011. The indirect ELISA test was used for the detection of anti-T. gondiiantibodies. Results showed that an anti-T.gondii IgG antibody was detected in 13.4 % of the samples. The presence of the anti-T. gondii antibody was influenced by the location of the goat herds. The highest incidence was in Jenin district (17.44 %) while it was 7.69 % in Tulkarm district. These results indicated the possible contamination of meat and milk of the goats with this parasite, which in turn negatively affects human health.

The absences or insufficient food control program result in the occurrence of mycotoxin in milk and milk products, which poses a serious risk for humans and can be a public health concern. This study was conducted to highlight the occurrence of aflatoxin M1 in Palestine raw milk collected at farms from Tulkarm, Nablus and Jenin. Aflatoxin M1 was determined by direct competitive ELISA technique. 85 % (34 of 40) of the total examined raw milk samples tested were positive. The aflatoxin M1 contamination levels were between 3 - 80 ppt with a mean of 29.57 ppt. There was a high incidence rate with 92 % (11 of 12) and the highest means of contaminated with aflatoxin M1 in the samples tested in Tulkarm city (P ≤ 0.05). 20 % of the analyzed samples (8 of 40) exceeded the maximum permissible limit (50 ppt) in European Codex, with a range of 2 - 80 ppt.