The potential for Staphylococcus aureus survival, growth and enterotoxigenesis in Minas cheese was studied. Twenty lots of cheese were made with raw and pasteurized milk and with and without starter culture. Cheese milk was inoculated with S. aureus strains 100, 243 or 137 and a pooled inoculum at levels of (log10) 4.23 to 6 cells/ml. Use of starter, type of inoculum, ripening time and interaction of starter by strain affected significantly the final pH of the cheese (5.22 with starter versus 5.45 without starter). Final NaCl content of cheeses differed significantly (P < 0.01) with lot indicating lack of uniformity in salting. Moisture was affected significantly by S. aureus inoculum, time of ripening and use of starter (P < 0.05). Final moisture ranged from 30.6 to 45.6%. Highly statistically significant effects on S. aureus counts during ripening were observed for use of starter (P < 0.001), type of S. aureus inoculum (P < 0.001) and time of ripening (P < 0.05). Use of starter culture had an inhibitory...