Antagonism of lactic acid bacteria against Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin C producer in Minas Frescal cheese during storage

Abstract

The evaluation of the microbiological parameters of food represents evidence of the quality and safety of these matrices, which can offer risks and cause damage to the health of the consumer when the observed values are incompatible with the appropriate criteria. Milk and its derived products are often related to staphylococcal intoxication since Staphylococcus spp. is cited as one of the causes of bovine mastitis. As a way of elucidating effective alternatives to prevent the development of S. aureus in a milk matrix, cheeses were produced with combinations of a standard S. aureus strain that produces enterotoxin C, and two lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus rhamnosus isolated from fermented whey from registered Canastra cheese makers in Minas Gerais and identified proteomically by the MALDITOF technique. Minas Frescal cheeses produced with BAL strains were able to reduce the count of S. aureus from the 1^st to the 14^th day after production, in treatments that presented at least one BAL along with the food pathogen. The presence of lactic acid bacteria showed a potential inhibitory action against S. aureus FRI361 in Minas Frescal cheese, which may contribute to improving the health quality of fresh cheeses.