Microbiological quality of artisanal cheeses and salami commercialized in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina

Qualidade de queijos e salames artesanais

Abstract

Artisanal products such as cheese and salami are traditionally commercialized in the south of Brazil due to the extensive influence of Italian and German colonization. Such products are manufactured with a low technological standard using raw milk and meat. These represent a risk to the health of consumers since raw aliments can easily be contaminated by microorganisms. The aim of this study was to verify the microbiological quality of artisanal cheeses and salami commercialized in the city of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina. For this, 16 samples of cheese and salami were collected in Florianópolis - SC, and investigated about the presence of Staphylococcus aureus, coliforms at 35ºC and Escherichia coli, using the Petrifilm™ system. Only three samples of cheese and salami were suitable for consumption according to the legislation, and 75% of the cheese samples and 50% of the salami samples showed coliforms at 35ºC. In addition, two samples of each food contained E. coli above the allowed. The presence of S. aureus above the legal limits was detected in 12 samples (4 cheeses and 7 salamis). The microorganisms isolated (S. aureus and E. coli) were submitted to antimicrobial susceptibility tests, performed using the disk diffusion technique. Of the four strains of E. coli and the 12 strains of S. aureus isolated, three and seven, respectively, showed a multidrug-resistant profile, with two strains being resistant to all antibiotics tested. These results show that these aliments represent a risk to the health of consumers, mainly because they contain multidrug-resistant bacteria.