Microbiological Quality of Slovak Traditional Cheese

The aim of this study was to investigate the micro-biological quality of traditional Slovak “bryndza” cheese made in Slovakia. Besides the common pathogenic bacteria, we focused on the analyses of verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC), the occurrence of which has been analysed only occasionally in a few products. As we chose food of the highest risk which contained raw milk, we expected several positive findings. The presence of Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter spp. was not confirmed. The enumeration of Staphylococcus aureus was more successful. In the case of VTEC stx and eae screening, the presence of genes producing verocytotoxins vtx1, vtx2 and the gene encoding virulent factor intimin—eae in nine samples by molecular-biological methods were revealed. Only one isolate, which carried genes vtx1 a vtx2 and did not belong to these serogroups: O157, O111, O26, O103, O145, or O104, was detected by confirmation assays.