Enterotoxogenic staphylococcus aureus isolated from soft cheese

A total of 45 random samples of locally white soft cheese were collected from various dairy shops, street vendors and supermarkets located in Gharbia governorate, Egypt. The samples were represented as Domiati, Tallaga, and Kareish cheese (15 samples of each) were examined for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus organisms. The incidence of Staph. aureus were 13.3%, 26.6% and 26.6% in the examined cheese samples respectively, with a mean counts/ml of 6.2×102 ±2.6×102 , 7.1×102 ±2.8×102 and 1.2×102 ±0.4×102 respectively. Out of 10 isolates of Staph. aureus , only 2 strains (20%) , (1each from) Tallaga and Kareish cheese were enterotoxigenic belonging to enterotoxin A and 2 strains (20%) belonging to A, C enterotoxin while the corresponding cheese samples were enterotoxins free