Diversity of microorganisms in the traditional Slovak cheese

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to describe the microbial groups of the traditional Slovak cheese Parenica during rippening. The microbial group included the total bacterial count, coliform bacteria, enterococci, lactic acid bacteria, and microscopic filamentous fungi, which may affect the organoleptic characteristics of this product. A total of 42 cheese samples were collected from four different farms during three months. The total bacterial counts were cultivated on Plate count agar at 30 °C, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) on MRS, APT and MSE at 37 °C, coliform bacteria on VRBL at 37 °C. Gram-positive and Gram-negative isolates were identified by MALDI-TOF MS profiling. Bacillus sp. and Enterococcus faecium were the most frequently identified species of bacteria. Candida kefyr was the most distributed yeast according to microbiological methods. Lactic acid bacteria group was represented by Lactobacillus helveticus, L. jensenii, L. alimentarius, L. crispatus, L. curvatus, L. fermentum, L. suebicus, L. delbrueckii ssp. lactis, L. paracasei ssp. paracasei, Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis, Leuconostoc lactis and Le. mesenteroides ssp. mesenteroides . This report describing the indigenous microbiota of the traditional raw milk cheeses from Slovakia. Our results provide useful information on occurrence of valuable microbial strain for the industrialization of producing of the traditional dairy products in Slovakia.

Keywords

• diversity
• microbiota
• smoked and non-smoked cheese
• mass spectrometry