[Enterococci and coliforms in yellow sheep's milk cheese]

Ninety-two samples of sheep milk yellow cheese were investigated 30 and 180 days after its production. The content of enterococci varied within a wide range--from 100 to 1,9 million per g. In 14.28% of the samples more than 10 000 enterococci per g were found. No correlation between salt content, acidity and pH and number of enterococci in the yellow cheese samples studied as well as between quantity of enterococci, period of cheese ripening and storage and the organoleptic evaluation of the product's ripeness was established. In 100% of the samples studied coli titer was above 0.1. Of the 137 differentiated enterococci strains 67.1% belonged to the species Str. durans, while 32.8%--to Str. faecium.