CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND MICROBIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF THE BONAB KEBABS SOLD IN TABRIZ MARKET M. NEMATI 1,4 , H. GHORBANPOUR 2 , S.V. RAZAVIEH 3 and M. HOSEINI 1 1 Department of Pharmacognosy and Food Science Faculty of Pharmacy 2 Food and Drug Control Laboratory 3 Department of Nutritional Biochemistry Faculty of Health and Nutrition Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran Accepted for Publication March 15, 2007 ABSTRACT The objective of this research was to determine chemical composition and microbiological quality of the Bonab kebabs sold in the Tabriz market. In the chemical analysis, pH, moisture, protein, fat and salt contents, as well as some minerals such as Na, K, Fe and Cu were determined both for raw and cooked samples. The samples were examined for aerobic plate count (APC), coliforms, mold and yeast, Clostridium perfringens and Salmonella spp. to observe the hygienic quality of the Bonab kebabs. The results of the chemical analysis showed 5.99–6.45 pH, 66.23– 56.94% of moisture, 14.3–19.59% of protein, 14.05–18.58% of fat, 2.06– 2.72% of ash and 1.27–1.96% of salt values for the raw–cooked samples, respectively. The results for minerals were (mg/100 g): 0.72–1.06 Fe, 0.21– 0.27 Cu, 573–745 Na and 616–913 K. The microbiological analysis showed 6.75–3.22 cfu/g APC, 5.30–1.69 cfu/g coliforms, 3.36–0 cfu/g Clostridium and 4.53–3.39 cfu/g mold and yeast for the raw–cooked samples, respectively. In conclusion, it could be proposed from the data that the Bonab kebabs sold in Tabriz market had acceptable nutritional value and hygienic quality, but future inspections are necessary for the hygenic quality of places which prepare these foods. 4 Corresponding author. TEL: +98-411-3341315; FAX: +98-411-3344798; EMAIL: nematim@ tbzmed.ac.ir Journal of Food Safety 28 (2008) 315–323. All Rights Reserved. © 2008, The Author(s) Journal compilation © 2008, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 315