SOME MICROBIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HERBED CHEESES

Authors: ERKAN, EMIN M.¹; CIFTCIOGLU, GURHAN; VURAL, AYDIN¹; AKSU, HARUN²

Source: Journal of Food Quality, Volume 30, Number 2, April 2007 , pp. 228-236(9)

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Abstract:

Fifty herbed cheese samples, in which herbs (Allium spp.) were used at production, were analyzed for some microbiological quality characteristics. Cheese samples were collected from different retailers in four counties of Eastern Turkey. Presumptive coliform bacteria, generic Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, lactic acid bacteria, yeast, mold and sulfite-reducing anaerobic bacteria counts were examined as general microbiologic quality parameters, and the average bacteria counts were 2.1 × 10⁵, 3.1 × 10⁴, 1.1 × 10⁵, 2.2 × 10⁷, 6.8 × 10², 7.0 × 10⁶ and 3.2 × 10¹ cfu/g, respectively. The number of samples, in which the above selected bacteria have been detected, were 32 (64%), 29 (58%), 23 (46%), 50 (100%), 5 (10%), 46 (92%) and 9 (18%), respectively. Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157:H7 were targeted as foodborne pathogens, and the presence of those pathogens in samples were 10% (in five samples), 8% (in four samples) and 4% (in two samples), respectively. It was found that herbed cheeses containing foodborne pathogens raise an important risk for consumers' health. Standardization and modernization of herbed cheese production, in which hygienic conditions and quality controls would be applicable, seems a necessity in order to prevent possible public health risks from herbed cheeses.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-4557.2007.00117.x

Affiliations: 1: Food Hygiene and Technology DepartmentFaculty of Veterinary MedicineUniversity of Dicle21280, Diyarbakir, Turkey 2: Food Hygiene and Technology DepartmentFaculty of Veterinary MedicineUniversity of Istanbul34320, Istanbul, Turkey

Publication date: 2007-04-01