**4.2.5 Ayib – Ethiopian cottage cheese**

Mean TBC ranged from 6.46 cfu/g in *Ayib* samples collected from Arsi and Selale area to 7.87 cfu/g in samples from Sululta with the overall mean being 7.01 cfu/g. Average *Enterobacteriaceae* and coliform counts were greater than 4 cfu/g of *Ayib* sampled from all study sites. Mean yeast and mould counts observed in the current study exceeded 8 cfu/g of *Ayib* sampled from all the sites considered.

*Ayib* samples contained high numbers of mesophilic bacteria, *Enterococci*, and yeasts (Ashenafi, 2002). The author also reported aerobic mesophilic bacterial counts of over 108 cfu/g for more than 90% of the samples collected in Southern Ethiopia. Works undertaken to identify bacterial species in *ayib* samples reported *Klebsiella pneumoniae*, *Klebsiella oxytoca*, *Enterobacter cloacae* (Yilma *et al.,* 2007b), *Staphylococcus aureus* and *Bacillus cereus* (Ashenafi, 2002).

Several earlier works carried out in different parts of the country reported coliform counts of *ayib* samples that ranged between 2 log cfu/gm (Ashenafi, 2002, 2006) and 5.68 log cfu/gm (Yilma *et al.*, 2005) with differences being a function of source of samples and handling conditions. Coliform counts varied among samples collected from different producers where samples from research centers had lower coliform counts (4.85 log cfu/gm) as compared to samples from large-scale (5.68 log cfu/gm) and small-scale (5.48 log cfu/gm) farms showing variations in the hygienic conditions practiced among the different producers (Yilma *et al.,* 2005). However, in all cases values are higher than the acceptable level of <10 cfu/gm (Mostert and Jooste, 2002) indicating the poor hygienic conditions practiced during processing and handling.

*Ayib* samples collected from an open market in Awassa showed high numbers of mesophilic bacteria, enterococci and yeasts (Table 19). More than 90% of the samples had aerobic mesophilic counts of ≥ 108 cfu/g while more than 75% of the samples had yeast counts of ≥ 107 cfu/g, and over 85% contained *Enterococci* in numbers of ≥ 107 cfu/g. The majority of the samples had mould and lactic acid bacteria counts of 105 cfu/g or higher, spore-formers of about 104 and psychrotrophs of about 106 cfu/g. Over 32% had coliform counts of more than 102/g and about 27% contained fecal coliform loads of more than 102/g. *Bacillus cereus* and *Staphylococcus aureus* were isolated in 63% and 23% of the samples, respectively, but at low numbers (102 to 103 cfu/g) (Ashenafi, 1990).
