Prevalence and antibiotics susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus in traditional Kouzeh cheese at Saqqez retails

Staphylococcus aureus is proposed as the third important foodborne organism worldwide. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of in traditional Kouzeh cheese at Saqqez retails and to determine the antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates. For this purpose, 100 Kouzeh cheese were collected from different parts of Saqqez. The samples were analyzed for the presence of S. aureus using conventional culture techniques. Afterwards, the pattern of antibiotic resistance of the isolates was investigated against 12 antibiotics using the disk diffusion’s method. According to the results, S. aureus was detected in 41 samples (41%). Amongst, only one of the isolates was found sensitive to all of the 12 antibiotics. In contrast, one of the isolates showed resistance to 9 antibiotics. Other isolates demonstrated various degrees of resistance (2 to 8 antibiotics). Regarding the high prevalence rate of contamination in Kouzeh cheese, application of efficient heat treatments of cheese-milk together with the and maintaining the hygiene conditions during cheese preparation is essential.