Acinetobacter baumanii and Streptococcus macedonicus recovered from the cheese production environment

Bacteria that routinely survive cleaning and sanitation during food manufacturing can establish themselves as resident members of the food processing environment, therefore leading to their recurrent transfer into the in-process product. A total of 35 Streptococcus macedonicus and 59 Acinetobacter baumanii were collected from pieces of cheesemaking equipment (i.e., the draining-matting conveyor) at three cheesemaking facilities over a 16-month period, between April 2019 and August 202, and subject to whole genome sequencing using Illumina and Oxford Nanopore Sequencing, as a means of determining if any of these isolates were resident members of the cheese facility microbiome.