PCR-DGGE fingerprints of microbial succession during a manufacture of traditional water buffalo mozzarella cheese.

D . E R C O L I N I , G . M A U R I E L L O , G . B L A I O T T A , G . M O S C H E T T I A N D S . C O P P O L A . 2003. Aims: To monitor the process and the starter effectiveness recording a series of fingerprints of the microbial diversity occurring at different steps of mozzarella cheese manufacture and to investigate the involvement of the natural starter to the achievement of the final product. Methods and Results: Samples of raw milk, natural whey culture (NWC) used as starter, curd after ripening and final product were collected during a mozzarella cheese manufacture. Total microbial DNA was directly extracted from the dairy samples as well as bulk colonies collected from the plates…