Use of Protective Lactic Acid Bacteria Adjunct Cultures to Decrease the Incidence of Gas Defects in Cheddar Cheese

Gas production in cheese making is becoming increasingly prevalent in the dairy industry. This gas is produced by microbes that are naturally found in the cheese, and when they metabolize sugar or other sources of energy, they can produce gas. This gas causes slits and cracks in the cheese, which causes the cheese to be worth less and causes issues during slicing and shredding. There are many microbes that cause unwanted gas in cheese, this research focuses on four know gas producers and five other protective microbes that use the same energy sources or have the ability to inhibit the gas producers in some way. Each protective microbe was challenged with all four of the gas producing microbes. The BUILD Dairy program of the Western Dairy Center granted the funding, so that this research could take place. This funding was used to support graduate students as well as for laboratory and manufacturing expenses. The Information that this study yielded data about how the use of protective adjunct cultures can be used to reduce gas production caused by gas producing microbes has been presented at national dairy and cheese industry conferences.