Swiss Federal Dairy Research Station, Bern-Liebefeld

Results of screening of lipolytic activity in propionibacteria extrapolated to Emmental cheese production

The lipolytic activity of six strains of propionibacteria were differentiated in laboratory, using a simple method based on the incubation of cells in milk fat and the subsequent determination of free fatty acids. The production of cheese with the analysed strains confirmed that the propionibacteria are essentially responsible for the lipolysis in Emmental cheese and that the lipolytic activity in cheese depends on the strain. A slight correlation exists between the results obtained with the screening method and those in the cheese. Again we could confirm that preselection in the laboratory is important but that those tests in the cheese dairy remain essentional.

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