Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
university of Tabriz
2
Medical Microbiology Research Center, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran
3
Department of Food Hygiene and Quality Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
4
Institute of Life Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland Valais-Wallis, 1950 Sion, Switzerland.
5
Health Products Safety Research Center, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran
10.30466/vrf.2026.2087067.5074
Abstract
Background Escherichia coli is one of the most important pathogens with a multidrug resistance pattern in animal-origin food, especially dairy products. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of Escherichia coli in raw milk and traditional dairy products (including 60 raw milk, 60 traditional fresh cheese, and 60 traditional butter), and to characterize the antibiotic resistance profiles, biofilm-forming capacity, and virulence genes of the isolates
Results E. coli was isolated from 21.11% of all samples, including 26.66% of raw milk, 16.66% of cheese, and 20% of butter. There was no statistically significant difference observed between the groups. All isolates were resistant to ampicillin, and none were resistant to aztreonam, with 36.84% of isolates identified as MDR. In addition, 60.52%, 26.31%, and 13.15% of isolates produced strong, moderate, and weak biofilm, respectively. The frequencies of Stx1, Stx2, csgA, and rfbE genes were 13.15%, 18.42%, 71.05%, and 68.42%, respectively, and the differences between the frequencies were significant (P < 0.05).
Conclusion Raw milk and traditional dairy products are potential sources of pathogenic E. coli, and continuous monitoring of these food products is required to ensure public health.
Keywords
Subjects
