مختصر البحث:
Milk and cheese were recognized as highly nutritious food due to their high protein, fat and minerals (calcium,
phosphorus, iron, and vitamins). Accidental contamination of food through the handlers could have resulted in
many kinds of bacteria es…
Milk and cheese were recognized as highly nutritious food due to their high protein, fat and minerals (calcium,
phosphorus, iron, and vitamins). Accidental contamination of food through the handlers could have resulted in
many kinds of bacteria especially Staphylococcus aureus in the dairy products. Therefore, this study aimed to
study variation in bacterial isolation percentage and the bacterial counts in raw milk and locally produced soft
cheese in local markets in Baghdad. A total of 150 samples of raw milk and local soft cheese (75 for each) were
collected from different regions of Baghdad city from October 2020 to July 2021 to study the evaluation of
bacterial contamination. The isolation percentage of total coliform, Fecal coliform, Escherichia coli and
Staphylococcus aureus in the raw milk were 82, 69, 54 and 42%, respectively. While in the soft cheese, the
isolation percentage for coliform, Fecal coliform, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were 90, 74, 60
and 45%, respectively. Furthermore, high percentages of bacterial isolation were recorded during summer. The
recorded data showed significant (P<0.05) variation for both raw and soft cheese according to months, and soft
cheese had a higher isolation percentage than the raw milk samples. The average values of bacterial count
values that were isolated from October to February in the raw milk of the total coliform, fecal coliform, E. coli
and Staph aureus were 5.57, 4.25, 3.77 and 2.94 cfulog10/mL respectively, which were recorded during the cold
months. While the recording of the average values from March to July as hot months were 6.02, 5.02, 5.22 and
3.23 CFU log10/mL, respectively. The average bacterial values in the soft cheese were 6.02, 5.03, 4.97 and
3.67cfu log10 /g, respectively, from October to February and were significantly (P<0.05) less than the summer
from March to July, which recorded 7.17, 6.32, 5.01 and 4.15cfu log10/g respectively. The high contamination
found in the soft cheese and during hot months compared with raw milk and cold months, respectively, is a sign
of unsanitary manufacturing conditions such as post-process contamination, high temperature in summer, and
lack of refrigeration during long-distance transportation.
