Abstract
Listeria is one of the significant and commonly found bacteria in the environment which presents a high risk to human health. These bacteria can be transmitted to raw milk by mastitis infections, unhygienic milking equipment, transport, or storage. In this work, 200 raw milk samples (100 buffalo milk and 100 cow milk) collected from Afyonkarahisar province, were used as study material and milk samples were evaluated regarding the presence of Listeria spp. Detection of these bacteria was performed according to the method of ISO 11290-1. One Listeria spp. from 100 buffalo milk and four Listeria spp. from 100 cow milk samples were isolated by conventional method. The identification of isolated Listeria spp. was performed by Microbact 12L test kit. Also, isolated bacteria were confirmed by PCR technique. Isolated Listeria spp. from buffalo milk was determined as L. seeligeri (1%), those isolated from cow's milk were determined as L. seeligeri (3%) and L. ivanovii (%1). As a conclusion, this study shows that Listeria species are not widely present in raw buffalo milk and raw cow milk collected from Afyonkarahisar province. However, periodic field surveys are suggested due to the widespread presence of Listeria species in nature. Particularly, it is recommended to obey hygiene and sanitation rules and inform the staff working in milk and milk processing plant.