Studies on the microbial flora in some traditional fermented dairy products

This investigation was carried out to isolate and identify the predominant microbial flora in milk product samples collected from different parts of the Tamil Nadu. A total of 30 samples were collected from Thanjavur, Trichy and Madurai, in sterile bottles and transported in a cool box at 4ºC for analysis. The samples were subjected to microbiological examination (total viable bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella sp., lactic acid bacteria and yeasts and moulds). The results showed the occurrence of coliform bacteria, S. aureus, lactic acid bacteria, yeasts and moulds in the samples, while Salmonella sp. was not detected. Coliform bacteria were not detected in samples collected from Madurai area, and detected in 30 and 20% of samples collected from Trichy and Thanjavur areas respectively. S. aureus was detected in 40, 60 and 20% of samples from Madurai, Trichy and Thanjavur respectively while yeasts and moulds were detected in 100, 90 and 90% of samples from Madurai, Trichy and Thanjavur areas, respectively .Lactic acid bacteria were detected in all samples under study.