A comparison between the microflora of Herrgard cheese from three different dairies

The microflora of Herrgard cheese produced at three dairies was grouped by phenotypical key tests and typed by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAP D). Ten cheeses from the same vat at each dairy were analysed, five after 3 and another five after 6 months of ripening. All cheeses were organoleptic ally graded as Herrgard after uniform national standards, and only small bu t characteristic differences were found between cheeses from different dair ies. Cheese from two dairies were dominated by a spontaneous secondary micr oflora of Lactobacillus from 3 months of ripening, while strains from the s tarter culture still dominated in cheese from the third dairy after 6 month s. The Lactobacillus flora from the different dairies were mainly of divers e RAPD types, but of the 24 different RAPD types found, three were isolated from cheese made at two different dairies and two other RAPD types were is olated from cheese from all three dairies. A succession of different RAPD t ypes was shown at one dairy. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights rese rved.