Occurrence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Cheese Produced in German Farm-Dairies

Claudia Zinke, Martina Winter, Elmar Mohr, Volker Kromker

Animal Health and Animal Welfare, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany.
Faculty 2, Department of Microbiology,University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Hanover, Germany.

DOI: 10.4236/aim.2012.24082                

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.

Keywords

Cheese Products; Staphylococcus aureus; MRSA; Small-Scale Processing Plant

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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