PRESENCE OF CARNOBACTERIUM SPP IN FRENCH SURFACE MOLD-RIPENED SOFT-CHEESE

Thirty-six 'atypical lactobacilli', randomly picked from five surface mould-ripened soft-cheeses, were characterized by physiological and ch emical, including DNA, analyses. This homofermentative, non-aciduric a nd psychrotrophic group represented the major bacterial flora with cou nts between 10(8) and 10(9) cfu g(-1). Common characteristics were the production of L-(+)-lactic acid enantiomer, the presence of meso-diam inopimelic acid in the peptidoglycan, the hydrolysis of arginine and t he failure to produce acid from sorbitol. On the basis of the descript ion of the genus Carnobacterium (Collins et al. 1987), 33 isolates wer e assigned to C. piscicola and three to C. divergens. Antibacterial su bstance production was observed for 16 isolates, with a narrow spectru m of activity. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Carnobact erium spp. in mould-ripened soft-cheese.