A comparative study between E.Coli O157:H7 and Coliform bacteria isolated from locally soft cheese

The main objective of this study was to isolate, identify and enumerate the E.coli O157:H7 bacteria and coliform bacteria from locally manufactured soft cheese. A total of 50samples of local soft cheese were collected and examined from local markets of (5) different areas of Baghdad city which was { Aldora, Al-Amria,Al-Kadmia,Al-Karada,Al-Kazalia} 10 samples for each area. The results showed that the highest average counts of E.coli O157:H7 and coliform bacteria was in Al-Dora 73.63 × 105and 956 × 105cfu/ml while the lowest average counts in Al-Kazalia 3.12× 105and 43.7× 105cfu/ml . The result of the statistical analysis showed that there were a significant differences (p<0.05) between E.coli O157:H7 and coliform bacteria between Al-Dora and the other areas in this study which was {Al- Kadmmea,Al-Karada,Al-Ammrea,Al-Kazalia} but there were no significant differences (p