Isolation, Characterization, and Antimicrobial Sensitivity of Enterobacter aerogenes in Locally Produced Cheese from Diyala Province

Abstract

Back ground: Food safety has continued to receive significant attention from consumers, food manufacturers, and producers. Foodborne illness results from eating contaminated food. Aims: to determine the frequency of contamination with Enterobacter aerogenes in locally produce cheese in Diyala province Methods: sixty cheese samples were randomly collected from Diyala province. All samples were cultured to isolate fermented bacteria on MacConkey agar plates. Presumptive isolates were then subcultured on XLD agar and identified biochemically using tests for urease, motility, oxidase, indole production, citrate utilization and catalase. Identities were confirmed with the Vitek system to definitively identify isolates and verify biochemical properties. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was then conducted on confirmed isolates using antibiotic disks to determine susceptibility profiles. Results: A total of 6/60,( 10%) was positive isolation rate for E. aerogenes from soft cheese samples .The higher rate of contamination was in AL-Khalis region , (2/15%13.33% followed by Buhriz and Khan Bani Saad ,(1/10,10%).while the lowest contaminated samples were from Al-Muqdadiyah(2/25,8%. Isolates exhibited the highest susceptibility to Gentamicin (21.6 mm zone) and Amikacin (19.6 mm zone), while all isolates were resistant to Methicillin, Clindamycin, Vancomycin, and Rifampicin.