occurrence of listeria monocytogens in Egyptian-Style soft cheese [Kariesh]

ABSTRACT

Listeria monocytogenes [L. monocytogenes.] was detected by a colony-count procedure in 7 out of 150 samples of Egyptian-style soft cheese [kareish]. All samples of soft cheese had been prepared from raw milk. The samples were collected from two differnt localities respectively namely Benha city and Assiut city representation of the Lower and Upper Egypt. The study was done during the period from October 1990 to October, 1991. In Benha, two strains of L. monocytogenes were isolated out of 50 samples [4%] while in Assiut the ratio was a little higher where five strains were isolated out of 100 samples [5%].The two strains isolated from Benha city where serotype la. and 4b while four out of the five isolated strains in Assiut city were 4b and one was la. The public health importance of food infected with this organism is discussed