To solve the problem of raw milk surplus, the Korean government encouraged the farmstead milk processing industry. However, the hygiene of farmstead dairy products has not been evaluated. Therefore, the microbiological analysis of farmstead cheeses was performed in this study. Farmstead cheeses (Berg, Colby, Cottage, Gouda, Mozzarella, String, Tilsiter, and Quark) were purchased from 16 dairy farms. In qualitative analysis, the presence of foodborne pathogens (Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Clostridium perfringens, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter spp.) were examined. Also, total aerobic bacteria, Pseudomonas spp., coliform, and E. coli, and yeast/mold were enumerated. Seventeen samples (37.8%) of 45 farmstead cheeses were contaminated with B. cereus and the highest detection rate was observed in String cheese. Two samples (4.4%) were E. coli positive and seven samples (15.6%) were S. aureus positive. Four other foodborne pathogens were not detected in all farmstead cheeses. Also, the mean levels of total aerobic bacteria, coliform, E. coli, and yeast/mold were 4.3 Log CFU/g, 1.4 Log CFU/g, 1.1 Log CFU/g, and 3.8 Log CFU/g, respectively. These results indicate that the food safety of farmstead cheese is extremely poor and, thus, the hygiene management of farmstead cheese should be improved to provide safe farmstead cheese to consumers.

Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
  Sample preparation
  Qualitative analysis
  Bacillus cereus
  Escherichia coli
  Clostridium perfringens
  Salmonella
  Staphylococcus aureus
  Listeria monocytogenes
  Campylobacter spp.
  16S ribosomal RNA sequencing
  Quantitative analysis
 Results and Discussion
 Conclusion
 Acknowledgement
 References

• Jeeyeon Lee(Department of Food and Nutrition, Sookmyung Women’s University, Risk Analysis Research Center, Sookmyung Women's University)
• Kyeonga Jang(Department of Food and Nutrition, Sookmyung Women’s University)
• Soomin Lee(Risk Analysis Research Center, Sookmyung Women's University)
• Jimyeong Ha(Department of Food and Nutrition, Sookmyung Women’s University, Risk Analysis Research Center, Sookmyung Women's University)
• Heeyoung Lee(Risk Analysis Research Center, Sookmyung Women's University)
• Sejeong Kim(Department of Food and Nutrition, Sookmyung Women’s University, Risk Analysis Research Center, Sookmyung Women's University)
• Yukyung Choi(Department of Food and Nutrition, Sookmyung Women’s University, Risk Analysis Research Center, Sookmyung Women's University)
• Hyemin Oh(Department of Food and Nutrition, Sookmyung Women’s University, Risk Analysis Research Center, Sookmyung Women's University)
• Yohan Yoon(Department of Food and Nutrition, Sookmyung Women’s University, Risk Analysis Research Center, Sookmyung Women's University) Corresponding author