Microbiological and chemical profiles of dairy farm red smear cheese made from pasteurized and un-pasteurized milk

Summary

A red-smear soft cheese was produced four times during a year at an organic dairy farm using pasteurized and un-pasteurized milk, respectively, from the same milking. A commercial starter culture was added. The cheeses were characterized microbiologically and chemically in order to study how heat treatment and season affected their characteristics during cheese making and ripening. Large variations between the different lots of cheeses characterized the production. However, the cheeses made from un-pasteurized milk generally had a higher lactic acid bacteria count except in cases, where the pasteurized milk was recontaminated or if acidification failure took place. Delays in acidification caused a more pronounced increase in numbers of E.coli, Enterobacteriaceae and staphylococci, as well as an increase in the plasmin and plasminogen-derived activities. A number of pre-milking and process steps were identified as important for the microbiological contamination and development in the cheeses.