Detection of Listeria monocytogenes and Brucella spp. in a Turkish home-made çeçil cheese by real-time PCR

Abstract

Çeçil cheese is a kind of soft cheese made from raw cow's skimmed milk produced in Erzurum, Turkey. The aim of this study was to analyze the presence of Listeria monocytogenes, Brucella spp. and microbial composition in çeçil cheeses sold in the markets and bazaars of district in Erzurum. The presence of Brucella spp. and L.monocytogenes was investigated in a total of 104 fresh home-made çeçil cheese samples via real-time PCR. The prevalance of Brucella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes was found to be 2,9% and 16,3% respectively. Overall mean levels of colony counts were detected for different microorganisms: for aerobic microorganisms 7,74×103cfu/g, for psychrotrophic microorganisms 8,66×103 cfu/g, for yeast and mould 7,55×l03 cfu/g, for Enteroccoci 4,08×l03 cfu/g and for E.coli 1,80×l01 cfu/g. The study showed that home-made çeçil cheeses were found to be not enough hygienic and after consumption of these kind of cheeses contains foodborne pathogens such as L. monocytogenes and Brucella spp. and may cause serious outbreaks. Also, real-time PCR can be used for rapid identification of L.monocytogenes and Brucella spp. from Listeria spp and Brucella spp. positive colonies respectively. As a result, hygiene awareness should be increased to the consumption of products made from raw milk such as Çeçil cheese. © 2017, Research Journal of BioTechnology. All rights reserved.