Pategrás cheese as a suitable carrier for six probiotic cultures

CARINA BERGAMINI; ERICA HYNES; CARLOS ALBERTO MEINARDI; VIVIANA SUÁREZ; ANDREA QUIBERONI; CARLOS ANTONIO ZALAZAR

Journal of Dairy Research

CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS

Año: 2010 vol. 77 p. 265 - 272

0022-0299

The viability of five single-strain and one three-strain probiotic cultures was assessed during Pategrás cheese ripening. Probiotics were inoculated into cheese-milk after a pre-incubation step – intended to improve their survival – or directly as a lyophilised culture; control cheeses without probiotics were also obtained. pH of probiotic and control cheeses was similar, except in probiotic cheeses containing the strain Lb. acidophilus B or the mixed culture. In these cases, the probiotic cheeses were more acid than their respective control cheeses. All the probiotic tested maintained counts above 10 exp 7 cfu/g during the shelf-life settled for the product. Strains ofthe Lb. casei group: Lb. paracasei, Lb. casei and Lb. rhamnosus reached and kept the highest cell concentration during cheese ripening, followed by Lb. acidophilus and bifidobacteria. The direct addition of the probiotic cultures was more efficient than their inoculation after a pre-incubation step, for all the probiotics assayed. We have provided evidence that support the use of Pategrás cheese as a performing food-based vehicle for probiotic bacteria.