Enterococcal diversity in the environment of an Irish Cheddar-type cheesemaking factory
Enterococci are natural residents of human and animal intestinal tracts and grow to high levels in a variety of artisanal cheeses. The aim of this study was to determine the diversity of enterococci in a farmhouse raw-milk cheese production unit. Putative enterococci were isolated from the faeces of...
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Veröffentlicht in: | International journal of food microbiology 2001-12, Vol.71 (2), p.177-188 |
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Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | Enterococci are natural residents of human and animal intestinal tracts and grow to high levels in a variety of artisanal cheeses. The aim of this study was to determine the diversity of enterococci in a farmhouse raw-milk cheese production unit. Putative enterococci were isolated from the faeces of all the cows and all the people associated with the cheesemaking, from the milk and cheese during manufacture and ripening and from the environment in three separate trials. Almost 1400 isolates were screened using a genus-specific primer. The results indicated that all the human, milk, curd and cheese isolates but only 33.7%, 6.7% and 4.4% of the bovine isolates from the three trials, respectively, were members of the genus
Enterococcus. RAPD-PCR was used to type the enterococcal isolates. In general, only
E. faecium was found in the bovine faeces while
E. casseliflavus dominated the human faeces, milk and cheese followed by lower numbers of
E. faecalis. Environmental sampling of the water in the milking parlour and rinses of the cows' teats, the bulk-milk storage tank and the milking machine corroborated these results as
E. casseliflavus and
E. faecalis were the only
Enterococcus species found in these samples. The putative vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), isolated in Trial 1, were shown to be
Pediococcus spp. by genotypic and phenotypic analysis. |
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ISSN: | 0168-1605 1879-3460 |
DOI: | 10.1016/S0168-1605(01)00620-1 |