Comparative study between marsh salt and salines salt from physical and chemical aspect

This study was conducted to evaluate the hygienic quality of the salt obtained from marshes [El-sayahat] and that from salines .The salt produced from saline was much better than that from marshes for the following reasons. March salt had inferior taste and colour quality compared with saline salt. The sodium chloride content in marsh salt reached up to 73%, while that from salines reached up to 97%. The iron content in march salt reached up to 2.270 ppm while that from salines reached up to 0.004 ppm. The copper content reached up to 1.385 ppm in salt produced from marsh while it was 0.292 ppm from salines. The cadmium content in marsh salt reached up to 0.135 ppm while it was 0.001ppm in salts from salines. The lead content in marsh salt reached up to 1.200 ppm while it was 0.001 in salt from salines. Sulfur pesticides residues in marshes salt ranged from 0.41 to 3.3 mg/kg. The authors recommended that mass media should educate the public about the deleterious effect of salt produced from marches on human health and legal actions have to be under taken against those who still produce salt from marshes

Antimicrobial effect of some Egyptian plants

Twenty eight crude water extracts of four Egyptian plants: Hibiscus sabdariffa [Karkade], Tamarindus indica [Tamarind], Glycyrrhiza glabra [Liquorice] and Ceratonia siliqua [Carob], were tested for their antibacterial activities against 10 common pathogenic bacteria, Bacillus cereus, Shigella flexenary and Escherichia coli showed sensitivity to the 28 extracts, Shigella sp. showed sensitivity to 24 extracts while Pseudomonas sp. and Salmonella typhimurium were sensitive to 23 extracts. Salmonella paratyphi and Aerobacter aerogenes showed sensitivity to 22 extracts, Serratia marcesence and Aeromonas hydrophila showed sensitivity to 20 extracts. Karkade exhibited marked antibacterial activity against all the 10 organisms. E. coli and Shigella flexenary had no observed sensitivity to Liquorice extracts. Aerobacter aerogenes was the only one which had no observed sensitivity to Tamarind extracts. All the extracts of Carob were effective against only two pathogens: Bacillus cereus and Shigella flexenary. The results support the traditional uses of extracts of these plants for the management of bacterial infections and for the development of antibacterial agents for the preservation of foods