Bacteriological evaluation of goat milk and cheese distributed in the Metropolitan Area of San José, Costa Rica. In the last years, there has been an increase in the production, industrialization and consumption of goats milk and derivate products, including cheese, worldwide. Nevertheless, in Costa Rica there is no study of these products, reason why the objective of this work was to determine the microbiological characteristics of goats milk and fresh cheese distributed in the Metropolitan Area of San José, Costa Rica, in order to evaluate its impact in the economical field and as a potential risk for Public Health. A total of 25 raw goats milk samples, obtained by manual milking from 5 different producers tested in five different dates and 15 cheese samples, elaborated with pasteurized milk, commercially available and coming from three different producers were analyzed. The study included the analysis of spoilage bacteria (total aeobic count and lactic bacteria count), indicators of hygiene (total coliforms), fecal contamination (fecal coliforms), manipulation (Staphylococcus aureus) and pathogens (Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp). High results were obtained for the total aerobic count and lactic bacteria count of the milk and cheese samples, showing a reduced shelf life. Total coliforms, in limits beyond the established ones by the Costa Rican legislation for human consumption raw milk, were found in 100% of milk samples, as well as for fecal coliforms in 76% of them. All cheese samples, except one, were negative for these indicators, suggesting good manufacturing practices. S. aureus counts were low and both Salmonella spp. and L. monocytogenes were not isolated from samples analyzed.
