Search results for " Traditional cheese"

Microbial Activation of Wooden Vats Used for Traditional Cheese Production and Evolution of Neoformed Biofilms.

2016

ABSTRACT Three Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris strains were used to develop ad hoc biofilms on the surfaces of virgin wooden vats used for cheese production. Two vats (TZ) were tested under controlled conditions (pilot plant), and two vats (TA) were tested under uncontrolled conditions (industrial plant). In each plant, one vat (TA1 and TZ1) was used for the control, traditional production of PDO Vastedda della Valle del Belìce (Vastedda) cheese, and one (TA2 and TZ2) was used for experimental production performed after lactococcal biofilm activation and the daily addition of a natural whey starter culture (NWSC). Microbiological and scanning electron microscopy analyses showed differenc…

A large factory-scale application of selected autochthonous lactic acid bacteria for PDO Pecorino Siciliano cheese production

2016

The main hypothesis of this study was that the autochthonous lactic acid bacteria (LAB) selected for their dairy traits are able to stabilize the production of PDO (Protected Denomination of Origin) Pecorino Siciliano cheese, preserving its typicality. The experimental plan included the application of a multi-strain lactic acid bacteria (LAB) culture, composed of starter (Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis CAG4 and CAG37) and non starter (Enterococcus faecalis PSL71, Lactococcus garviae PSL67 and Streptococcus macedonicus PSL72) strains, during the traditional production of cheese at large scale level in six factories located in different areas of Sicily. The cheese making processes were foll…

Evaluation of antimicrobial resistance and virulence of enterococci from equipment surfaces, raw materials and traditional cheeses

2016

Forty enterococci isolated along the production chains of three traditional cheeses (PDO Pecorino Siciliano, PDO Vastedda della Valle del Belìce, and Caciocavallo Palermitano) made in Sicily (southern Italy) were studied for the assessment of their antibiotic resistance and virulence by a combined phenotypic/genotypic approach. A total of 31 Enterococcus displayed resistance to at least one or more of the antimicrobials tested. The strains exhibited high percentages of resistance to erythromycin (52.5%), ciprofloxacin (35.0%), quinupristin–dalfopristin (20.0%), tetracycline (17.5%), and high-level streptomycin (5.0%). The presence of tet(M), cat(pC221), and aadE genes for resistance to tetr…

A Multivariate Approach to Study the Bacterial Diversity Associated to the Wooden Shelves Used for Aging Traditional Sicilian Cheeses.

2022

The present study was carried to correlate the microbial diversity of the biofilms developed on the wooden boards used for aging traditional Sicilian cheeses with cheese typology. To this end, the microbial diversity of the shelves in contact with the cheeses PDO Pecorino Siciliano, PDO Piacentinu Ennese, and TAP Caciocavallo Palermitano, during ripening, was evaluated by a multivariate statistical approach. The shelf biofilms of this study were previously analyzed for their microbial composition, but no correlation between biodiversity and cheese type was investigated. Canonical discriminant analysis confirmed a cheese typology effect on the microbial loads of the wooden shelves investigat…

Selected lactic acid bacteria as a hurdle to the microbial spoilage of cheese: Application on a traditional raw ewes' milk cheese

2013

To evaluate the efficacy of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) to improve the hygienic safety of a traditional raw milk cheese, the raw ewes’ milk protected denomination of origin (PDO) Pecorino Siciliano cheese was used as a model system. Different Pecorino Siciliano curds and cheeses were used as sources of autochthonous LAB subsequently used as starter and non-starter LAB. These were screened for their acidification capacity and autolysis. Starter LAB showing the best performance were genotypically differentiated and identified: two strains of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis were selected. From the nonstarter LAB, Enterococcus faecalis, Lactococcus garvieae and Streptococcus macedonicus strains…

Nutritional profile of Ager cheese selection

2021

Food labels are the main method to ensure that consumers are appropriately informed as regards the food they consume. In Europe, the provision of food information to consumers is regulated by specific laws, including (i) the European Regulation (EU) no 1169/2011, which regulates the mandatory food information including a list of mandatory particulars and nutritional declarations and (ii) the European Regulation (CE) no 1924/2006, concerning the voluntary nutrition and health claims (NHC) made on foods. Nutrient profiling involves the classification and ranking of foods according to their nutritional composition to prevent disease and promote health. For this purpose, the following 14 cheese…

Transfer, composition and technological characterization of the lactic acid bacterial populations of the wooden vats used to produce traditional stre…

2015

The biofilms of 12 wooden vats used for the production of the traditional stretched cheeses Caciocavallo Palermitano and PDO Vastedda della valle del Belìce were investigated. Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes were never detected. Total coliforms were at low numbers with Escherichia coli found only in three vats. Coagulase-positive staphylococci (CPS) were below the enumeration limit, whereas lactic acid bacteria (LAB) dominated the surfaces of all vats. In general, the dominance was showed by coccus LAB. Enterococci were estimated at high numbers, but usually between 1 and 2 Log cycles lower than other LAB. LAB populations were investigated at species and strain level and for thei…

In vivo application and dynamics of lactic acid bacteria for the four-season production of Vastedda-like cheese.

2014

article Twelve lactic acid bacteria (LAB), previously selected in vitro (Gaglio et al., 2014), were evaluated in situ for their potential to act as starter cultures for the continuous four-season production of Vastedda-like cheese, made with raw ewes' milk. The strains belonged to Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides and Streptococcus thermophilus .L AB werefirst inoculated in multiple-strain combinations on the basis of their optimal growth temperatures in three process conditions which differed for milk treatment and medium for strain development: process 1, growth of strains in the optimal synthetic media and pasteu…

Polyphasic Characterization of Microbiota of “Mastredda”, a Traditional Wooden Tool Used during the Production of PDO Provola dei Nebrodi Cheese

2021

The biofilms of the wooden tables used for the acidification of the curd were investigated for PDO Provola dei Nebrodi cheese, a traditional stretched cheese made in eastern Sicily (southern Italy) from raw cows’ milk. To this purpose the wooden tables of four dairy facilities were analysed for their microbiota by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis and a combined culture-independent and -dependent microbiological approach. SEM inspection showed an almost continuous biofilm formation. MiSeq Illumina analysis identified 8 phyla, 16 classes, 25 orders, 47 families and 50 genera. Corynebacterium, Bifidobacterium and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were detected in all samples. In particular…

Microbiological characterization of the biofilms of wooden shelves used for ripening of traditional raw milk cheeses produced in Sicily (South Italy).

The production of artisanal Sicilian cheeses is generally carried out with wooden equipment. For centuries, wood has been the main material used in cheese making due to its availability, low cost and resistance over time. Among dairy wooden equipment, the wooden vat used for milk curdling plays a role of paramount importance to inoculate the bulk milk with desired lactic acid bacteria (LAB) responsible for the acidification of the curd. In the last few years, the biofilms associated to these containers have been object of study of different research groups, mainly Italian and French, but so far, very little is known about the microbiological characteristics of the wooden shelves used for ch…