Significance of Escherichia coli in cheese
Howie, J.
Lancet 2(8252): 939
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0140-6736 PMID: 6117722 Document Number: 168754
The writer considers it inappropriate to apply the coliform test, used successfully to detect excretal pollution of water, to assess risks to human health associated with cheese samples. It is stressed that food poisoning from cheese is rare and hardly ever caused by Escherichia coli. The coliform test might suggest the need for inspection of the cheese production plant, but is of little value as an indicator of public health hazards since it cannot detect specific intestinal pathogens such as salmonellae or shigellae. The use of the coliform test for cheese and milk products as a marker of bacteriological quality is discussed by W. M. Waite and D. A. A. Mossel in letters published in Lancet (1981) 2, 1174-1175 and 1425, resp.