en تخصصي Special Original article Original article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>Background: </strong>One of the most well-known Iranian traditional cheeses is Koozeh. The aim of present work was to evaluate the survival of <em>L. monocytogenes</em> during ripening of Iranian traditional Koozeh cheese made from raw ewe&#39;s milk.<br> <strong>Methods:</strong> A 2-factor experimental design was applied to study the effect of ripening conditions, including different temperatures (4, 9, and 14 &deg;C) and different concentrations of NaCl (0, 8, 12, and 15%) on the survival of <em>L. monocytogenes </em>in the Koozeh cheese. Microbial analysis was carried out over a period of 150 days with sampling in every 10 days. SPSS software (v. 16.0) was used for statistical analysis.<br> <strong>Results:</strong> Three NaCl concentrations (8, 12, and 15%) significantly affect the inactivation <em>L. monocytogenes</em> (<em>p</em><0.05). After inoculation, <em>L. monocytogenes </em>populations were reduced most rapidly during the first ten days of storage (~0.5-1.5 log Colony Forming Unit/g) at three mentioned temperatures; after that, the bacteria were continually decreased, being below the detection limit (1 log CFU/g) at the end of ripening. Numbers of <em>L. monocytogenes </em>were reduced more effectively at 14 &deg;C storage temperature than 9 and 4 &deg;C (<em>p</em><0.05).<br> <strong>Conclusion:</strong> <em>L. monocytogenes</em> was declined drastically during ripening days and eliminated at the end of ripening of Koozeh cheese. <em>L. monocytogenes</em> counts were decreased during ripening of Koozeh cheese under adverse conditions such as high salt concentrations and high temperatures. However, since Iranian Koozeh cheese is made from raw and unpasteurized milk, there are still some concerns about health risk of<em> L. monocytogenes</em> in this product. Also, the effects of temperature and salting parameters on the sensorial properties of Koozeh cheese should be investigated in future.<br> <br> <strong>DOI:</strong> 10.29252/jfqhc.5.3.109</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"></div> Listeria monocytogenes, Survival, Cheese, Food Safety 109 115 http://jfqhc.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-144-7&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Y. Shahbazi y.shahbazi@razi.ac.ir Yes Department of Food Hygiene and Quality Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran N. Shavisi No Department of Food Hygiene and Quality Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran