Incidence and characterization of Clostridium perfringens isolates from milk and milk products

Abstract

The present study was conducted to assess the incidence of Clostridium perfringens and to characterize the isolates from milk & milk products. The study included 250 samples of milk and milk products consisting 50 each of raw milk, pasteurized milk, shrikhand, khoa and lassi. The samples were overnight enriched in alternative thioglycollate broth followed by isolation on tryptose sulphite cycloserine agar. Out of 250 samples, 8.4% (21/250) had C. perfringens. The occurrence in raw milk was 16% (8/50), khoa- 12% (6/50), shrikhand-10% (5/50), lassi- 4% (2/50). Pasteurized milk samples were not positive for C. perfringens. All the isolates of C. perfringens were confirmed with 16S rRNA genes. The molecular study revealed that all the isolates had lecithinase (cpa) gene, while 5 isolates (raw milk-3, shrikhand2) showed the enterotoxin (cpe) gene. The presence of C. perfringens in milk and milk products revealed unhygienic and insanitary (merge in with sanitary) conditions which lead to contamination during production and processing of milk and milk products.