Priyanka Singh and Alka Prakash
Fermented dairy products like curd and cottage cheese are important part of the diet consumed in India prepared by traditional methods. Contamination of indigenous microflora (pathogenic and non-pathogenic) in these milk products is mainly due to processing, handling and unhygienic environment. A potential application of the present research is to search a natural preservative for milk products which could inhibit pathogenic Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes. Pathogens were isolated and identified from samples of cottage cheese, biochemically as well as by sequencing of 16S rRNA gene sequence and their control was studied using natural products. Ethanolic extracts were found to be more effective than the aqueous extracts and hime was inhibited E. coli and S. aureus while mausami and peepal leaves inhibited L. monocytogenes most effectively.
