Potential of lactic acid bacteria from Pico cheese for starter culture development

Abstract

Autochthonous lactic acid bacteria may provide a means of promoting the quality and safety of traditional fermented food products, in particular, artisanal cheeses. Pico cheese is an artisanal, dairy specialty of the Azores in risk of disappearing. Efforts to maintain its quality to the requirements of the modern markets are, thus, necessary. Lactic acid bacteria were isolated from artisanal Pico cheese, identified by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, and their potential as starter cultures was evaluated by studying their acidification ability, enzymatic activities (caseinolysis, lipolysis and API-ZYM profile), diacetyl and expolysaccharide production, autolysis, antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7466, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29523, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and Clostridium perfringens ATCC 8357, sensory evaluation of odour formation in milk, syneresis and firmness of the curd. Several of the studied lactic acid bacteria isolates showed interesting properties for practical application as starters in artisanal cheese production. The isolates with the highest number of positive traits and, therefore, the most promising for starter development were Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis L1C21M1, Lactobacillus paracasei L1B1E3, Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides L1C1E6, Lactobacillus casei L1A1E5 and L1C1E8.

Role of Lactic Acid Bacteria from Animal Products in Human Health – One Health Perspective

“…Leuconostocs are part of the core microbiota in several artisanal cheeses, albeit their populations are, in general, numerically lower than those of lactococci [83]. The main species described in starter free cheeses from Portugal were Ln.…”

“…In most cheeses, lactobacilli are part of the native microbiota, with several species represented. Ten lactobacilli species have been reported in Portuguese artisanal cheeses, manufactured without the addition of a commercial starter: L. casei [83,84], L. paracasei [83][84][85][86][87], Latilactobacillus curvatus [84], L. plantarum [84][85][86][87], L. acidophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii [84], Lentilactobacilus otakiensis [83,85,86], Levilactobacillus brevis, Limosilactobacillus fermentum [84]. Lactobacilli, for example, L. paracasei, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus, L. plantarum, and L. curvatus play a role in cheese ripening [73].…”

Current Trends of Enterococci in Dairy Products: A Comprehensive Review of Their Multiple Roles

“…Isolation of enterococcal strains with good acidification properties from artisanal cheeses is not frequent, and comprised only 3.6 to 11.6% of the enterococcal isolates in Pico and Pecorino Abruzzese cheeses, respectively [174,175]. In several studies, the enterococci have been reported to exhibit a poor acidifying capacity, with only a small percentage of the isolates being able to produce acid enough for pH to drop below 5.0-5.2 upon incubation for 16-24 h at 37 • C [176][177][178].…”

“…Casein degradation plays a role not only upon cheese flavor and texture, but also upon the accumulation of bioactive peptides, with potential health benefits, within the product matrix [7]. Caseinolytic strains have been isolated from artisanal cheeses to variable proportions (17-95%) of the total enterococcal isolates [153,174,175,180]. The gelE gene, frequently regarded as a virulence factor, is involved in caseinolysis when the enterococci grow in dairy substrates.…”

“…Aminopeptidase P, for instance, contributes to reduce bitterness in cheese, by hydrolyzing proline-rich oligopeptides derived from proteolysis of casein [188]. The aminopeptidase activities of enterococci from artisanal cheeses seem to vary in a strain-, rather than species-dependent manner [142,172,174,175].…”