Dissemination of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium in a ricotta processing plant and evaluation of pathogenic and antibiotic resistance profiles.

In this work, the sources of contamination by Enterococcus spp. in a ricotta processing line were evaluated. The isolated strains were tested for virulence genes (gelE, cylA,B, M, esp, agg, ace, efaA, vanB), expression of virulence factors (hemolysin and gelatinase), and the resistance to 10 different antibiotics.