Wooden vats are used in the production of some traditional cheeses as the biofilms on wooden vat surfaces are known to transfer large quantities of microbes to cheese. However, the safety of using wooden vats for cheese production remains controversial as the porous structure of wood provides an irregular surface that may protect any attached pathogen cells from cleaning and sanitation processes. On the other hand, the absence of pathogens in wooden vats has been reported in multiple studies and wooden materials have not been associated with foodborne illness outbreaks. The present study determined the survival of Listeria monocytogenes and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) during the production of an uncooked pressed cheese in the wooden vats as well as their ability to transfer to the wood and then to milk used in subsequent batches of cheese production in the absence of formal cleaning. Results from the study indicate that pathogens inoculated in milk grew during production of the uncooked cheese, but showed limited ability to colonize the wooden vats and contaminate subsequent batches. These results suggest that the risks of using wooden vats to produce cheese is low if the milk is of high microbiological quality.

木桶用于生产一些传统奶酪，因为木桶表面的生物膜会将大量微生物转移到奶酪中。然而，使用木桶生产奶酪的安全性仍然存在争议，因为木材的多孔结构提供了不规则的表面，可以保护任何附着的病原体细胞免受清洁和卫生过程的影响。另一方面，多项研究报告木桶中不存在病原体，并且木质材料与食源性疾病的爆发无关。本研究确定了在木桶中生产未煮熟的压制奶酪过程中单核细胞增生李斯特菌和产生志贺毒素的大肠杆菌(STEC) 的存活情况，以及它们转移到木材中，然后转移到后续批次中使用的牛奶中的能力。奶酪生产过程中没有经过正式的清洁。研究结果表明，接种在牛奶中的病原体在生奶酪的生产过程中生长，但在木桶中定殖并污染后续批次的能力有限。这些结果表明，如果牛奶具有高微生物质量，则使用木桶生产奶酪的风险较低。