en تخصصي Special Original article Original article <div align="justify"><font face="times new roman,times,serif" size="2"><b>Background:</b> <i>Escherichia coli</i> and <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> as important food-borne pathogens are the main concerns of food producers and consumers which create a lot of problems worldwide. The objective of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of monolaurin alone and in combination with EDTA on viability of <i>E. coli</i> and <i>S. aureus</i> in culture media and Iranian white cheese. </font><br> <font face="times new roman,times,serif" size="2"><b>Methods:</b> The minimum inhibitory concentration of monolaurin and EDTA was determined by broth microdilution susceptibility test. In the next stage, 10⁸ CFU/g of <i>E. coli</i> and <i>S. aureus</i> and different concentrations of monolaurin and EDTA were added. Samples were maintained at 4 &deg;C for 9 days. Antibacterial effect of monolaurin and EDTA was evaluated on days 0, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 by the specific media. Statistical analysis was made using analysis of variance (ANOVA) by SPSS program (16.0) to compare means with a significant difference when <i>p</i><0.05. </font><br> <font face="times new roman,times,serif" size="2"><b>Results:</b> Monolaurin alone in both in vitro and in vivo condition had limited effect on <i>E. coli</i> growth but this effect was increased when it was used in combination with EDTA (<i>p</i><0.05). Monolaurin showed strong antibacterial effect on <i>S. aureus</i> which was increased significantly when used in combination with EDTA (<i>p</i><0.05). Preservation time had significant effect on antibacterial effect of monolaurin on both pathogenic bacteria (<i>p</i><0.05). </font><br> <font face="times new roman,times,serif" size="2"><b>Conclusion:</b> Monolaurin can be used in combination with EDTA to decrease contamination risks and growth of pathogenic bacteria in Iranian white cheese. </font></div> Anti-Bacterial Agents, Monolaurin, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus 108 112 http://jfqhc.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-43&slc_lang=en&sid=1 H. Tajik No M. Raeisi raeisi.mojtaba@yahoo.com Yes Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran S.M. Razavi Rohani No M. Hashemi No M. Amin Zare No H. Naghili No D. Rozbani No D. Ben Ammar No