Chemical and Microbial Properties and Energy Content of Rub Al-Tamr Made by Traditional and Modern Methods

This study was conducted in 2019 in Misurata, Libya. It aimed to compare the chemical and microbial characteristics of samples of (Rub Al-Tamr) produced by traditional and modern methods and calculate their energy content. Traditional (Deglah Nour, Khadrawi, Tasfart and Bekrari) and modern (Dibs Al-Tamr) Rub Al-Tamr samples were collected from the Alwaha Factory (Benghazi, Libya). The most important chemical results showed that none of the traditionally manufactured samples of Rub Al-Tamr conformed to Libyan Standard No. 44 of 1992 in average percentage of moisture, total sugars and total soluble solids but matched the standard in average ash content. The Deglah Nour sample recorded a high content of iron (7.55 ppm). However, all date syrup samples were free of heavy metals. The microbial test results showed that the Rub Al-Tamr samples were free of bacterial growth except for the sample of Deglah Nour, but most of the samples were contaminated with yeasts and moulds. The results showed that Dibs Al-Tamr contained the highest energy ratio and the Khadrawi sample was ranked second. The important recommendations of this study were to improve Libyan standard specifications for date syrup and to increase awareness programmes regarding the tools used in extracting date syrup.