Microbial safety of milk and milk products sold in local shop in and around Thanjavur region

Abstract

Milk is a nutrient rich source of proteins and milk products can serve as good source nutrients for the growth of microorganisms as milk. In the present study a total 40 samples, includes 20 ice-cream, 04 cheese, 06 butter, 04 Yoghurt and 06 milk shake samples were collected from local shop in and around around Thanjavur region and subjected for the isolation and identification of bacteria of Zoononotic importance. The isolated bacteria were confirmed by morphological, biochemical and PCR techniques. The results showed, that four samples were free from bacteria (10%), while 36 samples (90%) shown presence of bacteria. Ice cream samples were confirmed for presence of Staphylococcus spp. 08 (36%), E. coli 08 (36%) and Listeria spp.04 (18%), Butter samples shown presence of Staphylococcus spp. 02 (33%) and E. coli 02 (33%), Cheese samples shown presence of Staphylococcus spp. and E. coli (100%), Yoghurt samples were shown presence of Staphylococcus spp. 02 (50%) and milk shake sample were shown presence of mixed form of bacteria as Staphylococcus spp. The highest numbers of isolates detected were Staphylococcus spp. 018 (42%) and E. coli 018 (42%) followed by Listeria spp. 4 (9.5%) and Klebseilla 02 (2%). Polymerase chain reaction test confirmed the presence of 596 bp hlyA gene of Listeria monocytogenes and 500 bp coa gene of Staphylococcus aureus respectively. According to these study findings, the surveyed milk products were highly contaminated with different pathogenic bacteria and they have been associated with the onset of food borne infection in human beings.