Pathogenic Characteristics and Antibiotic Resistance of Bacterial Isolates from Farmstead Cheeses.

The objective of this study was to investigate the pathogenicity and antimicrobial resistance of foodborne pathogens isolated from farmstead cheeses. Twenty-seven isolates, including 18 , two , and seven , were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect virulence genes and toxin genes, and the antibiotic resistances of the isolates were determined. All isolates were determined by PCR to be non-pathogenic. Among the 18 . isolates, 17 isolates (94.4%) were diarrheal type, as indicated by the presence of , , , and genes, and one isolate (5.6%) was emetic type, based on the presence of the gene. Among the seven . isolates, three (42.9%) had the gene, which is related to methicillin-resistance. Most . isolates (94.7%) showed antibiotic resistance to oxacillin and penicillin G, and some strains also showed resistance to ampicillin (26.3%), erythromycin (5.3%), tetracycline (10.5%), and vancomycin (5.3%). These results indicate that microbial food safety measures for farmstead cheese must be implemented in Korea because antibiotic resistant foodborne pathogens, with resistance even to vancomycin, harboring virulence genes were found to be present in the final products of farmstead cheese.