Objective: This study was planned to assess the distribution of yeasts and moulds in different types of cheese, and to study the effect of natamycin on their survival during manufacture of Feta cheese and its storage. Materials and methods: A total of 150 samples of local manufactured cheese were collected randomly from markets of Qena city in Egypt which were subjected for mycological examination by traditional microbiological examinations. The effects of different concentrations of natamycin on survival of yeasts and moulds in Feta cheese at room temperature, refrigeration condition, and pH values were evaluated. Results: Highest yeasts and moulds contaminations were recorded in Kareish cheese with a mean value of 2.40x106+/-9.72x105 and 4.64x102+/-1.18x102, respectively. The isolated moulds were mostly Cladosporium, Penicillium and Aspergillus, while yeast genera were species of Candida and Debaryomyces hansenii. Yeasts and moulds could not be detected after 24 h, and after curd in Feta cheese samples containing natamycin (at 0.2% or 0.4%) when the cheese samples were stored either at room or refrigeration temperature. Gradual decrease of pH value was also recorded in the cheese. Conclusion: Natamycin has strong antifungal activity and can extend cheese shelf-life during storage period. [J Adv Vet Anim Res 2016; 3(3.000): 214-220]

Objective: This study evaluated the occurrence and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of Salmonella species isolated from various poultry products including chicken meat, poultry eggs, poultry bird's drinking water, and poultry feed. Materials and methods: A total of 79 samples comprising of chicken meat (n=20), egg shell (n=15), poultry egg contents (n=18), drinking water (n=14), and poultry feed (n=12) were bacteriologically and microscopically analyzed for the isolation of Salmonella species. Results: Overall, this study reported a high prevalence of Salmonella species (62%) from various poultry products especially in poultry (chicken) meat and poultry egg contents where the percentage occurrence of Salmonella species was 100% and 20.4% respectively. The antibiogram conducted on the Salmonella species isolated from the various poultry samples reveal that all the isolates were multi-drug resistant to more than 50% of the tested antibiotics especially to tetracycline, gentamicin, tobramycin, nitrofurantoin and imipenem. However, most of the Salmonella species were also found to be highly susceptible to ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, ertapenem and ceftazidime. It was also observed in this study that the highest level of resistance to the tested antibiotics was recorded in Salmonella species isolated from poultry meat samples. Conclusion: Salmonellosis due to the consumption of contaminated or infected poultry products could pose serious public health problem to the general public if allowed. Thus, poultry farms and other poultry product outlets should be operated under sanitized conditions that ward-off the incidence of foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella. The use of antibiotics as growth promoting agents and prophylaxis in the production of poultry birds in this region should be discouraged and ndash; since such practices allowed drug-resistant bacteria to emerge and spread in the community. [J Adv Vet Anim Res 2016; 3(4.000): 353-359]