This review focuses on the culture-independent methods available for the description of both bacterial and fungal communities in cheese. Important steps of the culture-independent strategy, which relies on bulk DNA extraction from cheese and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of selected sequences, are discussed. We critically evaluate the identification techniques already used for m...

Microorganisms are an essential component of cheeses and play important roles during both cheese manufacture and ripening. Both starter and secondary flora modify the physical and chemical properties of cheese, contributing and reacting to changes that occur during the manufacture and ripening of cheese. As the composition of microbial population changes under the influence of continuous shifts...

Microbial communities play an important role in cheese ripening and determine the flavor and taste of different cheese types to a large extent. However, under adverse conditions human pathogens may colonize cheese samples during ripening and may thus cause severe outbreaks of diarrhoea and other diseases. Therefore in the present study we investigated the bacterial community structure of three ...

The microbiological profile in raw milk cheese is typically characterized by a multitude of microbial groups; during cheese ripening a wide range of enzymes interact, hydrolysing caseins into peptides and free amino acids. Although a number of microbial enzymes are common to many cheese varieties, the final peptide composition of a cheese reflects its characteristic ripening process. The peptid...

BACKGROUND Calcium from different dairy sources might affect blood lipids and fecal fat excretion differently because of differences in the food matrix and nutritional composition. OBJECTIVE We investigated whether milk- and cheese-based diets with similar calcium contents affect a saturated fatty acid-induced increase in blood lipids differently. DESIGN Fifteen healthy, young men participa...

Genes encoding three putative endopeptidases were identified from a draft-quality genome sequence of Lactobacillus helveticus CNRZ32 and designated pepO3, pepF, and pepE2. The ability of cell extracts from Escherichia coli DH5alpha derivatives expressing CNRZ32 endopeptidases PepE, PepE2, PepF, PepO, PepO2, and PepO3 to hydrolyze the model bitter peptides, beta-casein (beta-CN) (f193-209) and a...

The study of microbial ecosystems in artisanal foodstuffs is important to complete in order to unveil its diversity. The number of studies performed on dairy products has increased during the last decade, particularly those performed on milk and cheese derivative products. In this work, we investigated the bacterial content of "Tomme d'Orchies" cheese, an artisanal pressed and uncooked French c...

BACKGROUND Gut lactobacilli can affect the metabolic functions of healthy humans. We tested whether a 1500 kcal/d diet supplemented with cheese containing the probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum TENSIA (Deutsche Sammlung für Mikroorganismen, DSM 21380) could reduce some symptoms of metabolic syndrome in Russian adults with obesity and hypertension. METHODS In this 3-week, randomized, double-bli...

Background: Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is a toxic and carcinogenic mycotoxin which after presence in milk and dairy products such as cheese and butter could make them as contaminated food. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the concentration of AFM1 in pasteurized and traditional cheese marketed in Southern Khorasan, from December 2011 to January 2012. Methods: A total of 102 cheese sam...

Two cases of laboratory-confirmed listeriosis were detected in Bizkaia, Spain, at the end of August. The epidemiological investigation indicated that these two cases were associated with the consumption of Latin-style fresh cheese made from pasteurised milk in Portugal. Different batches of the same cheese were analysed and confirmed as contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The product was ...