Evaluation of Safety Aspects and Antagonistic Activity of Enterococcus Strains Isolated from Traditional Pot Cheese

Background & objectives: Safety control of traditional raw milk cheese such as Pot cheese is of special importance. Although enterococci can play beneficial probiotic or technological properties in cheese and their use in food is the subject of debate due to evidence of pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance. Method: In the present study, after isolation and morphological and biochemical identification of enterococci isolated from 50 samples of traditional Pot cheeses in West Azerbaijan province, the antibacterial properties of the isolates were determined by well diffusion method and the resistance pattern to 12 common clinical antibiotics was evaluated using disk diffusion method. The hemolytic properties of the isolates were also investigated. Results: The results showed the presence of enterococci in 74% of the Pot cheese samples. Among the identified species, Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium had the highest frequency with 44.7% and 37.2%, respectively. The highest inhibitory effects of isolates were recorded for Listeria monocytogenes (83.7%). Studies showed that over 80% of isolates were sensitive to eight common clinical antibiotics, including vancomycin. Also, all enterococcus isolates lacked hemolysis activity. Conclusions: This study showed that traditional jar cheese is a rich source of Enterococcus bacteria with antimicrobial activity and high sensetive to common antibiotics such as vancomycin. If more safety aspects are studied and other probiotic properties are evaluated, these isolates can be used as a source of native probiotic bacteria in other fermented products.