Survey of the total microbial count and the rate of contamination to coliform, staphylococcus aureus and mold and yeast in traditional cheese in Birjand during 2015

Cheese is a fermented milk product with high nutritional value. Traditional cheese has an important role in family meals in Iran and especially in South Khorasan. According to the conditions of production, storage and sale, the possibility of microbial contamination in this product is very high and so it can cause a variety of food borne diseases in consumers. The aim of This Survey was measurement and determination of microbial contamination in traditional cheeses which were marketed in Birjand. For this propose, Birjand city was divided into four regions (North, South, East and West) and 15 samples of traditional cheese were collected from each region (totally 60 samples) under sterile conditions and studied with standard methods of Iranian national standards organization. Data were analyzed with SPSS software. The statistical analysis of the data showed that the total microbial count (TC) and the rate of contamination with coliforms, staphylococcus aureus and mold and yeast were greater than Iranian standard limits in all samples and also in 93.33% of samples Escherichia coli was isolated. The results obtained in this study concluded that traditional cheese in Birjand has a high microbial contamination and more strict preventive measures are necessary.