Growth and Enterotoxin Production by Staphylococcus aureus During Manufacture and Storage of Telita Type Cheese

Telita is an artisan, white, cooked paste fresh cheese produced in Venezuela. Commonly, it is made from unpasteurized milk following a not standardized procedure and marketed at room temperature, there for presence and growth of pathogens is a potential risk. The goal of this study is was to establish Staphylococcus aureus grown rate and enterotoxins production during telita cheese making and storage. Cheese samples are made using contaminated milk containing two different doses, 10(3) and 10(5) CFU/mL of a strain enterotoxigenic of S. aureus, following a traditional procedure and stored for 6 days at two different temperatures, 25 and 12 degrees C. The population of S. aureus is determined during manufacture (acidification, curding, salting and cooking) and storage at days (d) 2, 4, and 6. Additionally, the presence of enterotoxins A and B is measured by reverse passive agglutination immunoassay (SET RPLA). During telita type cheese manufacture, the population of S. aureus decreased (P. 0.05) while cooking at 70 degrees C/10min. In storage, microorganism population is controlled by refrigeration, reducing the number of viable cells in one log cycle after day 2. However, at room temperature an increase (P. 0.05) of the microorganism population is observed, reaching final values of 10(7) and 10(6) CFU/g, after to 2 and 4 d storage, respectively, from samples with initial population level of 10(5) and 10(3) CFU/g, respectively. Enterotoxins A and B were detected only in 10 CFU/g samples stored at 25 degrees C. This study shows that cooking temperature/time and refrigerated temperature throughout storage, significantly influenced (P. 0.05) growth and survival of S. aureus. These findings allows preventive recommendations for artesian cheese-makers to help improve product safety, use a cooking time relationship of 70 degrees C/10min and a store temperature of 12 degrees C.