Investigation on the microflora of Caprino Lombardo cheese from raw goat milk

Samples of raw milk, whey culture and cheese from seven farms located in different areas of Lombardy (Italy) were analysed to investigate the microflora present in the production chain of Caprino Lombardo, a fresh goat cheese traditionally curdled using artisan starters. Lactic acid bacteria, coliforms and enterococci proved to be the main bacterial groups in the raw milk, while lactococci predominated in the artisan whey cultures. The 1-day-old and 15-day-old cheese samples showed, respectively, mean log counts: 9.27 and 8.58 CFU/g for lactococci, 5.95 and 7.21 CFU/g for yeasts and 4.41 and 4.07 CFU/g for enterococci. Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis was the predominant species in cheese, whereas L. garvieae, Streptococcus thermophilus and L. raffinolactis were present as minor components. The most detected yeast species in cheese samples were Galactomyces geotrichum, Kluyveromyces lactis and Yarrowia lipolytica.