SCIENTIA AGRICULTURAE BOHEMICA, 50, 2019 (3): 197–202 197 FOOD PRODUCTION doi: 10.2478/sab-2019-0027 Received for publication on September 14, 2018 Accepted for publication on April 10, 2019 INTRODUCTION Ewes’ milk is a substance used in the manufac- ture of traditional dairy products in Slovakia such as ewes’ lump cheese produced in chalets (OA EC 2010/ C20/9), Slovak Bryndza-Liptauer cheese (OA EC 2007/C232/10) or Žinčica (K o l o s t a et al., 2014). Žinčica is a by-product of ewes’ lump cheese produc- tion (L a u k o v a et al., 2019). Whey from ewes’ milk is heated to 90–95°C with continuous shaking. At this temperature, proteins in the whey start coagulating and locate on the surface of the whey. After the coagula- tion, the proteins are skimmed from the surface and cooled to acidifying temperature (50°C). After further shaking, the vessel is kept covered up till the next day to acidify the product at least to pH 5.2. High quality Žinčica has to be lightly acid with a delicious lactic acid taste similar to that of ewes’ milk. Dairy products from ewes’ milk have a long tradition in Slovakia and they are very popular among consumers; they have benefits on human health (H e r i a n , 2014). Enterococci are a controversial group of bacteria. On the other hand, they represent one of the largest lactic acid-producing genera from the phylum Firmicutes. Fifty-eight species have been validated (E u z e b y , 1997; last updated 2018, www.bacterio.net/enterococ- cus.html). Many enterococci, especially those isolated from food (G i r a f f a , 2003; F r a n z et al., 2011) or food-producing animals (L a u k o v a et al., 1993), possess probiotic/beneficial properties and/or produce OCCURReNCe Of EntErocin GeNes IN eNTeROCOCCI from Slovak milk Product Žinčica * A. Lauková 1 , V. strompfová 1 , M. Tomáška 2 , M. Kološta 2 1 Institute of Animal Physiology, Centre of Biosciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Košice, Slovakia 2 Dairy Research Institute a.s., Žilina, Slovakia Žinčica is a popular Slovak dairy product made from ewes’ milk. It is a by-product resulting during ewes’ lump cheese pro- cessing. Microbiota in Žinčica have rarely been studied, especially enterococci; however, they can produce beneficial sub- stances – bacteriocins. In this study, the presence of Enterocins (Ents) genes were analysed in enterococci from Žinčica and partially also the inhibition activity. Samples of Žinčica were collected from different agrofarms producing ewes’ lump cheese (34) in Central Slovakia. In the enterococci tested, Ent P gene was the most frequently detected (in 6 out of 7 enterococci), followed by Ent A and Ent L50B genes. Ent B gene was detected only in E. faecium 30E1. On the other hand, E. faecalis 31E2 did not contain Ent genes, although it showed inhibition activity against the indicator strains Enterococcus avium EA5, Staph- ylococcus aureus SA5, Listeria monocytogenes CCM4699 (inhibition zone sizing up to 20 mm). E. faecium 30E1 contained genes of four Ents; however, it showed no inhibition activity. Growth of the four indicators was inhibited due to the antimicro- bial activity of E. faecium 32E1 with Ent P gene detection. This is the first study reporting on the occurrence of Ent genes in enterococci from Žinčica. Traditional milk product, enterococci, bacteriocin, inhibition * Supported by the European Regional Development Fund, Project ITMS 26220220065 – Isolation, identification and characterization of lactic acid bacteria for their application in dairy industry.