Survival of staphylococci and transmissibility of their antimicrobial resistance genes in milk after heat treatments

There is growing concern that the milk heat treatments, which are the main antibacterial safeguard in the dairy industry, are not sufficient in inactivating the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes of staphylococci and may induce a viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state of these microorganisms. This study investigated the persistence and quantification of blaZ, mecC and tetK plasmid-mediated AMR genes copy numbers of two staphylococcal strains in both milk and Tris-EDTA (TE) buffer.