Ocorrência de enterobactérias em queijos artesanais elaborados a partir de leite de búfala (Bubalus bubalis): impacto para a saúde pública?

Abstract

Brazil has one of the largest buffalo herds in the Western world, with the animals well adapted to Brazilian edaphoclimatic conditions. Buffalo milk has several peculiarities that make it very suitable for the production of dairy products, such as cheese. In this context, the objective was to evaluate the occurrence of enterobacteria in artisanal cheeses made from buffalo milk (Bubalus bubalis), promoting discussion within the scope of the impact on public health. To this end, 20 samples of artisanal cheese from the municipalities of São Bento and Viana, located in the Baixada Maranhense region, were collected and analyzed. In a laboratory setting, analytical units were removed for isolation using standardized microbiological techniques and identification of enterobacteria using a commercial biochemical panel composed of 23 parameters. Enterobacteriaceae were quantified in 100% of the samples, with bacterial populations ranging from 2.4 x 10³ to 5.68 x 2.02 x 10⁷ CFU/g for butter cheese and from 6.7 x 10² to 1.59 x 10⁷ for rennet, and 183 bacterial strains were isolated, identifying 11 different bacterial genera and 18 species of enterobacteria. Among these, Pantoea agglomerans, Proteus mirabilis, Citrobacter freundii, Enterobacter cloacae, and Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. pneumoniae stand out due to their presence in different environments and their recurrence in human infections. It is concluded that the high percentages of enterobacterial contamination indicate the need to implement appropriate hygiene practices and microbiological quality control measures to ensure the safety of artisanal dairy products, which are suitable to the reality of production, valuing the knowledge of the producers, but without neglecting the safety of the food produced.