Interactions between yeasts and bacteria in the smear surface-ripened cheeses

In the initial phase of ripening, the microflora of bacterial smear surface -ripened cheeses such as Limburger, Taleggio, Brick, Munster and Saint-Paul in and that of surface mould-ripened cheeses such as Camembert and Brie may be similar, but at the end of the ripening, bacteria such as Brevibacteium spp., Arthrobacter spp., Micrococcus spp,, Corynebacterium spp. and moulds such as Penicillium. camemberti are, respectively, the dominant microorgan isms. Yeasts such as Candida spp., Cryptococcus spp., Debaowinyces spp., Ge otrichan? candidum, Pichia spp., Rhodotorula spp., Saccharomyces spp. and Y arrowia lipolytica are often and variably isolated from the smear surface-r ipened cheeses. Although not dominant within the microorganisms of the smea r surface-ripened cheeses, yeasts establish significant interactions with m oulds and especially bacteria, including surface bacteria and lactic acid b acteria. Some aspects of the interactions between yeasts and bacteria in su ch type of cheeses are considered in this paper. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.