EVALUATION OF MICROBIAL QUALITY OF SIAHMAZGI CHEESE PRODUCED IN NORTHWESTERN IRAN

Background and Aim:Siahmazgi cheese is an Iranian traditional dairy produced which is producing from cow’s milk. This kind of cheese has classified in hard cheeses and it takes 3-4 months to get extremely firm texture at the end of repining period. Commonly, this cheese has some pea-sized holes, with yellowish appearance and fermented taste.Methods:In this study, 76 samples of Siahmazgi cheese were collected randomly from different regions of Northwestern Iran (especially Zanjan Province between the years of 2017 to 2018). The purpose of this study was to investigate some undesirable microorganisms in cheese including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Coliforms, molds and yeasts.Results:Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 25 by ANOVA test based on a significance level of p<0.05. The results have shown that out of the total 76 samples of Siahmazgi cheese in terms of Coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, molds and yeasts in cheese were 23 (30.26%), 21 (27.63%), 3 (3.95%) and 23 (30.26%) in samples were not agree with the Iran National Standard Organization (INSO), respectively. In addition, contamination with Salmonella spp. was not observed in all analyzed samples.Conclusion:Our findings indicated that, the most microbiological (especially in case of Coliforms, Escherichia coli, molds and yeasts) loads of Siahmazgi cheese produced in northwestern of Iran are not agree with the relevant standard, however along with observing the good production conditions such as GMP and GHP, continues supervision, sampling and controlling is required during production of their traditional dairy products from microbial contamination point of view.

کلیدواژه ها:

Siahmazgi Cheese ، Traditional Dairy ، Microbial Quality ، Northwestern Iran