Chemical and Bacteriological Characteristics of Pichtogalo Chanion Cheese and Mesophilic Starter Cultures for Its Production

Abstract

Sixty-two samples of Pichtogalo Chanion cheese traditionally produced in Crete, a few (3 to 6) days old, were analyzed for some chemical and bacteriological characteristics. The results of physicochemical analyses were as follows: (1) moisture content 61.63% (standard deviation 4.67); (2) fat in dry matter 54.03% (SD 7.73); (3) protein content 14.23% (SD 1.72); (4) salt content 1.02% (SD 0.38); (5) water activity (aw) 0.990 (SD 0.003); and (6) pH 4.36 (SD 0.25). None of the samples yielded Salmonella spp. Listeria monocytogenes and coagulase-positive staphylococci were present in 6.45% of the samples. Bacillus cereus and sulfite-reducing clostridia were isolated from 14.51% and 40.32% of the samples, respectively. High populations of coliforms were determined in the cheese samples. In 11.3% of the samples, Escherichia coli was not detected, while 88.7% of the samples yielded E. coli most probable number levels from 1.32 to 5.66 log10/g. The log10 CFU/g counts of enterococci were 6.89 (SD 0.84), of yeasts 6.79 (SD 0.61), of molds 4.68 (SD 0.69), and of psychrotrophic bacteria 7.63 (SD 0.62). The log10 CFU/g counts of lactic acid streptococci and lactococci were 7.91 (SD 0.68) and of lactobacilli 8.11 (SD 0.65). Lactic acid bacteria, mainly mesophilic, were isolated and confirmed using API 50 CH test trips. A pasteurized mixture of ewe's and goat's milk was made into Pichtogalo Chanion cheese according to standard procedure at 23 degrees C, after the addition of 4% commercial mesophilic starter culture or 2%, 3%, and 4% starter culture of the isolated and confirmed lactic acid bacteria and the addition of rennet. Results of this work indicated that high quality of Pichtogalo Chanion cheese can be produced using a pasteurized mixture of ewe's and goat's milk and 4% (vol/vol) of mesophilic starter culture.

Enteroxigenic Staphylococcus spp. and other microbial contaminants during production of Canastra cheese, Brazil

“…Also, the presence of P. aeruginosa and sulfite reducing clostridia would offer risk to public health, probably leading to contamination of cheese, with consequent reduction of shelf life. Sulfite reducing clostridia are able to produce enzymes that cause late swelling in cheeses (12,19,21). Pseudomonas aeruginosa also produces thermoresistant proteases and lipases that could alter organoleptic properties of the final product.…”

Microbiological quality of Port Salut Argentino cheese stored at two temperature treatments

“…These values were lower than those reported by Ashenafi (1990) in cottage cheeses, which was 10 7 cfu/g. Papageorgiu et al (1998) have found, in Pichtogalo Chanion cheese that yeast and mould counts were 10 6 and 10 4 cfu/g respectively.…”

Conditions of staphylococcal enterotoxin production in milk and milk products

“…Νωπά τυ ριά είναι και τα τυριά τυρογάλακτος όπως το Μανοΰρι, η νωπή Μυζήθρα, ο Ανθότυρος, το Riccotone, τα οποία ε ξετάζονται ξεχωριστά, καθώς και η Mozzarella (κεφ. 3.1.6), η οποία είναι ο εκπρόσωπος των τυριών τΰπου Pasta filata (Anifantakis, 1991;Kosokowski and Mistry, 1997;Papageorgiou et al, 1998 , σε ποσοστό 6,45% των δειγμάτων που εξετάστη καν (Papageorgiou et al, 1998).…”