Microbial Quality of Smoked Cow Cheese “Parenica”

Slovak smoked cow cheese “Parenica” is a traditional dairy product with a protected geographical indication. An amount of 96 samples were studied in the present study. The samples were examined for coliforms (VRBL medium at 37 °C for 24-48 h), for lactic acid bacteria (on MRS media at 30 °C for 48-72 h), microscopic filamentous fungi (MEA at 25 °C for 5 days) and total microbial counts (PCA at 30 °C for 48-72 h). Individual species of microorganisms isolated from smoked cheese “parenica” were identified with MALDI-TOF MS Biotyper. Totally, 41 species of microorganisms were identified. The most abundant species were Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactococcus lactis, Enterococcus faecium, and Escherichia coli. Microscopic filamentous fungi were represented by the genus Rhizopus spp. and yeasts by species of Yarrowia lipolytica and Kluyveromyces lactis. Of the total number of isolates 47.66% were lactic acid bacteria, 27.84% coliform bacteria, 18.66% yeasts and 5.85% of microscopic filamentous fungi. The occurrence of microorganisms increased in the summer then the highest values ​​of coliform bacteria were detected 1.74 log cfu/g. The lactic acid bacteria counts found in summer were 2.19 log cfu/g, and the highest counts were observed ​​in December - 2.66 log cfu/g.