Prevalence of coagulase positive pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus in milk and milk products collected from unorganized sector of Agra

The present study deals with the sampling, isolation and biochemical characterization of Staphylococcus aureus from raw milk of cow and buffalo, and milk products (khoa sweets and cottage cheese) collected from different unorganized sectors of Agra city, India. Samples of raw milk from cow, cottage cheese and khoa sweets indicated that S.aureus contamination was higher in east of Agra (Ram Bagh), whereas samples of raw milk from buffalo, collected from the west of Agra (Sikandra), showed higher S.aureus contamination. Least contamination was observed in samples of khoa sweets and cottage cheese collected from west of Agra (Sikandra) and in samples of cow and buffalo milk collected from North of Agra (Dayalbagh) and east of Agra (Ram Bagh), respectively. The incidence of high contamination in raw milk and milk products suggests that protective measures are inadequate and need to be enforced to avoid potential threat to public health.