An in-Depth Investigation of the Safety of Wooden Shelves Used for Traditional Cheese Ripening

This study provides evidence for the lack of pathogenic bacteria on the wooden shelves used to ripen internal bacterially ripened semi-hard and hard cheeses produced in Sicily. These three cheeses are non-inoculated on their surfaces and surface ripening is not considered to occur or, at least, not at the same extent of surface inoculated smear cheeses. Several bacterial groups identified from the wooden shelves are typically associated with smear cheeses strongly suggesting that PDO Pecorino Siciliano, PDO Piacentinu Ennese and Caciocavallo Palermitano cheese rind contributes to their final organoleptic profiles.PMID:34550766 | DOI:10.1128/AEM.01524-21

Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - September 22, 2021 Category: Microbiology Authors: Luca Settanni Valeria Puccio Gabriele Busetta Giuseppe Licitra Elena Franciosi Luigi Botta Rosalia Di Gerlando Massimo Todaro Raimondo Gaglio Source Type: research