In order to investigate the presence of methicillin or multidrug resistant Staphylococcus aureus
in food-chain especially Cows raw milk and white raw soft cheese and its whey, a total of 30 samples
were collected randomly from different markets in Baghdad Province during December 2012 till
February 2013, in which samples were analyzed by a standard isolation protocols of food
microbiology with some modification processing by new, modern and rapid technology tools such as
chromogenic medium Baird-Parker agar, Electronic RapIDTM Staph Plus Code Compendium Panel
System (ERIC®) Dryspot Staphytect Plus and Penicillin Binding Protein (PBP2') Plus assays; as well
as, studying the susceptibility of isolates to different selected antibiotics. The results profile showed
isolation, identification, confirmation and enumeration of 10 (33.4%) isolates of MRSA as 4 (13.4%)
isolates from raw milk and 6 (20%) isolates from white raw soft cheese with its whey. These findings
suggest presence of MRSA type in locally produced raw milk and soft cheeses in Baghdad markets
thus recommended to monitoring these products periodically to inshore public health.