Detection of Listeria monocytogenes and Brucella spp. in a Turkish home-made cecil cheese by real-time PCR

Cecil cheese is a kind of soft cheese made from raw cow's skimmed milk produced in Erzurum, Turkey. The aim of this study was to analyze the presence of Listeria monocytogenes, Brucella spp. and microbial composition in Cecil cheeses sold in the markets and bazaars of district in Erzurum. The presence of Brucella spp. and L. monocytogenes was investigated in a total of 104 fresh home-made Cecil cheese samples via real-time PCR. The prevalance of Brucella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes was found to be 2,9% and 16,3% respectively. Overall mean levels of colony counts were detected for different microorganisms: for aerobic microorganisms 7,74x10(3) cfu/g, for psychrotrophic microorganisms 8,66x10(3) cfu/g, for yeast and mould 7,55x10(3) cfu/g, for Enteroccoci 4,08xl0(3) cfu/g and for E. coli 1,80x10(1) cfu/g