DAIRY PROPIONIC-ACID BACTERIA

Propionic acid bacteria are used in Swiss type cheese technology witho ut real control. The increasing demands of the cheese industry as rega rds standardisation of processes raise interesting questions about the identification and the accurate technological properties of propionic starters. The results obtained recently on phenotypical and genotypic al identification of dairy propionic species as well as a means of dif ferentiation between strains are presented in this non exhaustive revi ew Moreover, some observations relating to the technological use of pr opionic acid bacteria have been summarized. proteolytic activity, auto lysis, propionic acid production and first observation of a bacterioph age infecting P freudenreichii.