Microflora patógena del queso blanco " telita" elaborado en cuatro estados de Venezuela

abstract: the telita cheese is a white cheese of boiled paste, it is sold immersed in whey, it is made by small producers in cheesemonger, localized in different states of the country, with a technological process completely artisanal. the actual deficient sanitary condition for production, storage, transportation and trading in venezuela for this product, are important causes of contamination with various microorganisms for example staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli, salmonella spp and listeria spp. the objective of this work was to evaluate the presence of the pathogenic microflora in samples of telita cheese made in cheesemonger in four venezuelan states: aragua, bolívar, guárico and miranda. it was achieved by a plate counting of s. aureus, total coliforms and e. coli by using a rehydratable dry film plating method 3m petrifilm. the detection of salmonella spp and l. monocytogenes, was measured following a fda method. the s. aureus counts ranged from 107 to 108 cfu/g were found, and 44,0% and 64,0% coresponding to the cheesemonger from bolívar and guárico states, respectively. the s. aureus and total coliforms counts and the incidence of e. coli of the telita cheese made in from bolívar and guárico states, were significantly greater than those counts founds in the telita cheese made in aragua and miranda states. from the 160 strains isolated of e. coli, only in two samples of telita cheese from bolívar state could be identified e. coli o157:h7. salmonella spp and l. monocytogenes were not detected in the telita cheese samples analyzed. it is concluded that in general process of making telita cheese there is a deficient sanitary quality. an venez nutr 2007;20 (1): 17-21