S. aureus is a major cause of contamination in milk and dairy products, representing a problem for the safety of the consumer. The ability to form biofilms, a pathogenic factor present in S. aureus, has been studied in a limited way in mastitic and food isolates. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability to form biofilms and the peracetic acid resistance of dairy S. aureus isolates. The biofilm-forming ability was found to be widespread in S. aureus, and this trait may in part explain the presence and persistence of S. aureus in the dairy industry. The biofilm of S. aureus have been shown to be quite tolerant to peracetic acid, which highlights the need, in the development of a cleaning protocol, to keep in consideration the spread of microbial forms capable of forming biofilms in the dairy industry.
