Microorganisms Isolated from the Slovak Traditional Cheese “Parenica”and their Identification with Mass Spectrometry

Cheese is one of the most important products of dairy industry from the economic and nutritional points of view that demands the high processing technology and production hygiene. The aim of the study was to evaluate microbiological quality of traditional Slovak cheese “Parenica” produced from sheep milk. The coliforms, enterococci, lactic acid bacteria and microscopic filamentous fungi were detected in cheese samples. MALDI-TOF MS was applied for identification of isolates. In group of lactic acid bacteria three genera were identified: Lactococcus and Leuconostoc. Lactobacillus spp. was the most abundant genus, which was found in 25, Leuconostoc in 10 and Lactococcus in 7 samples. Lactobacillus was mostly represented with four species: Lactobacillus plantarum, L. acidophilus, L. ultunensis, L. casei. Another bacterial isolates included Gram-positive and Gram-negative Enterococcus faecium, Streptococcus, Raoutella ornithinolytica and Klebsiela oxytoca. Our study shows that MALDI-TOF MS could serve as an important method for identifying microorganisms for dairy industry needs.