TITLE:
Occurrence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Cheese Produced in German Farm-Dairies
AUTHORS:
Claudia Zinke, Martina Winter, Elmar Mohr, Volker Kromker
KEYWORDS:
Cheese Products; Staphylococcus aureus; MRSA; Small-Scale Processing Plant
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Microbiology,
Vol.2 No.4,
December
31,
2012
ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to determine if raw milk cheese or cheese to be made out of heated milk, manufactured in small German cheese dairies might be a reservoir of contaminations with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Due to predominantly manual handling during cheese making, recontaminations with Staphylococcus (S.) aureus or MRSA cannot be excluded. Commercial cheese products (n = 72) available in the region of Hanover(Lower Saxony) and dairy products offered via internet were analyzed with regard to the occurrence of S. aureus and MRSA. Thereof, two cheese samples, manufactured from pasteurized milk and two samples, produced from raw milk, were S. aureus positive with CFU/g between 1.0 × 101 and 7.0 × 101. MRSA was not detected. All analysed cheese samples could be considered safe for consuming.