Investigation of Flavor-Forming Starter

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) play an important role in dairy fermentations, notably as cheese starter cultures. During the cheese production and ripening period, various enzymes from milk, rennet, starter cultures, and non-starter LABs are involved in flavor formation pathways, including glycolysis, proteolysis, and lipolysis. Among these three pathways, starter LABs are particularly related to amino acid degradation, presumably as the origins of major flavor compounds. Therefore, we used several enzymes as major criteria for the selection of starter bacteria with flavor-forming ability.