Journal of

Background: Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive, non-sporulated, lack of capsule, immovable, aerobic and anaerobic and able to tolerate high levels of salt (up to 15 percent). Therefore, foods containing salt provides an ideal environment for bacterial growth. It is also one of the most important bacterial born of spoilable food products, especially in dairy products. Lighvan traditional cheese is consumed in many regions of Iran, especially consumption of these cheeses is very high in Tehran which in the manufacture of such cheeses, the unpasteurized and raw milk is used and the sanitary conditions during processing and subsequent storage are low. So, considering the importance of this issue in the release of poisoning, the coagulase-positive Staphylococcus aureus contamination in Lighvan cheese on Retail Stores was evaluated.

Materials and Methods: In order to perform this study, 22 samples of traditional Lighvan cheese were collected randomly from Tehran stores and according to Iran national standards and by using of bird-parker, Cook Meat cultures and coagulase test were evaluated.

Results: Total of 22 samples, 14 samples (63/6%) were contaminated by S. aureus over standard and 5 (22/7%) were contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus coagulase positive.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that sanitary conditions should be observed during the production and Use of pasteurized milk in cheese production.