Abstract The present study aimed to investigate the contamination rate of various traditional Iranian cheese samples with Yersinia enterocolitica. In total, 200 cheese samples were collected from the northeast of Iran, and 10 types of traditional cheese were evaluated, including Lighvan, Kurdish, lactic, Tape-Salam, Onsory, Turkmen (type one and two), Sistani, Baluchi, and Kormange. The samples were analyzed using pre-enrichment Peptone-Sorbitol-Bile (PSB) broth, Yersinia selective agar (Cefsulodin-Irgasan-Novobiocin (CIN)) following polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Antimicrobial tests were carried out using 13 antibiotics on all the positive samples. From the cheese samples collected from Khorasan Razavi province, Kurdish cheese had the highest contamination rate (9/20; 45%), while the lowest contamination rate was observed in Lighvan and Onsory cheese. Also, the most commonly identified biotype was biotype 1A (23/38; 61%). Y. entrocolitica was mostly susceptible to ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, gentamicin, chloramphenicol, cefotaxime, and ceftazidime, while resistant to ampicillin and amoxicillin.

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