Investigation of the viability of staphylococcus aureus, listeria monocytogenes and salmonella spp. in the ripening process of tomas cheese

Tomas cheese is a type of tulum cheese produced in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Türkiye, especially in the provinces of Bingöl, Tunceli, Elazığ, Erzincan, Muş and Malatya. There is no written and documented production method for Tomas cheese. Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella spp. Pathogens such as these can pose a risk to food safety and public health in cheeses produced by traditional methods. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the viability of the above-mentioned pathogens in Tomas cheese produced by traditional methods at 4±1 °C and 10±1 °C. The total number of aerobic mesophilic colonies reached the highest level on the 0th day of the ripening period in the 4°C group, whereas it was detected at the lowest level on the 60th day (P<0.01). In terms of yeast-mold numbers, a statistically significant difference was found in the 4 °C and 10 °C groups at the 45th and 90th ripening days (p<0.05). In terms of psychrotroph colony numbers, a statistically significant difference was found between the values obtained during ripening days in groups at 4 °C and 10 °C (P<0.05). Enterococcus spp. it was determined that the differences between the numbers obtained on the 0, 7 and 45th days of the ripening period were statistically significant (P<0.05). The differences between the values obtained on the 7th and 30th days of ripening days in the 4 °C and 10 °C groups in the number of lipolytic colony were found to be statistically significant (P<0.05). A statistically significant difference was found in the number of proteolytic colony in the 10 °C group during ripening (P<0.05). Staphylococcus aureus numbers were statistically different between the 45th and 90th days of ripening at the 4 °C and 10 °C groups (P<0.001). The difference between the 15th and 45th days in terms of the values obtained during the ripening period and ripening temperatures in the number of L. monocytogenes was found to be statistically significant (p<0.001). Salmonella spp. it was determined that the difference between the 60th and 120th days was statistically significant in terms of the values obtained during the ripening period and the ripening temperatures in the number of days (p<0.001). At the end of the ripening period, Salmonella spp. number of 4.54 log10 CFU/g at 4 °C and 3.15 log10 CFU/g at 10 °C; A decrease of 1.59 log10 CFU/g and 1.75 log10 CFU/g in the number of Staphylococcus aureus and, 2.92 log10 CFU/g and 3.06 log10 CFU/g in the number of Listeria monocytogenes were detected, respectively. In line with the data obtained from this study, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes numbers decreased at different ripening temperatures (4±1 °C and 10±1 °C) at the end of the ripening period, the data obtained revealed that these pathogenic microorganisms may pose a risk to food safety and public health in cheese.