Comparison of antimicrobial activity of horse, donkey and camel milk against Bacillus cereus

Milk is one of the most widely consumed dairy products in the world that has a high nutritional value. Due to the presence of several bioactive compounds, this food has different biological properties such as antimicrobial activity. In recent years, the tendency to consume milk from domestic animals other than cattle such as donkey, horse and camel milk has increased. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the natural antimicrobial properties of raw milk of horse, donkey and camel againstBacillus cereus (as an important foodborne pathogen). Also, the effect of storage temperature on the antimicrobial properties of milk samples of these animals was studied. After a random collection of samples, the B. cereus was inoculated into the samples and they were incubated at 5, 10 and 20 °C for 96 h. To evaluate the inhibitory activity of milk samples against the behavior of this bacterium, samples were cultured on the selective medium every 24 h. At temperatures of 5 and 10 °C, the milk of these animals showed a better antimicrobial activity compared to 20 °C. The antimicrobial effect of horse and camel milk at 5 and 10 °C was higher than donkey milk after 96 h of storage, while the effect of donkey and horse milk at 20 °C was stronger than camel milk particularly during 72 h of storage. According to the findings of this study, it can be concluded that the level of natural antimicrobial activity of milk varies depending on the animal species and storage temperature.