Probiotics as a tool to improve microbial quality of soft cheese

Abstract EN

Functional foods incorporating probiotic bacteria such as bifid bacteria and lactobacilli have a variety of beneficial health effects in human.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the survival of L.

acidophilus and Bifid bacterium lactic during manufacture and storage of Damietta cheese stored at 4 ± 1°C in brine and to determine the effects of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium lactis on the microbial quality of Damietta cheese.

Cheese samples were examined for coliforms and Staphylococcus auras counts.

The results revealed a significant (P > 0.05) differences in the counts of coliforms and S.aureus in the probiotic cheese with those in control cheese.

The obtained results verify that using Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifid bacterium lactic as probiotics had a greater inhibitory effect on coliforms and Staphylococcus auras counts in cheese.

Lactobacillus acidophilus probiotic cheese is more effective in inhibition of S.aureus than either probiotic cheese with Bifid bacterium lactic or combination of them (P > 0.05).

The final numbers of L.

acidophilus and Bifid bacterium lactic were greater than the minimum (107 cfu / g), as suggested by Ishibashi and Shimmer (1993), required to produce health benefits claimed for probiotic cheese.

The results showed that Damietta cheese can be an effective carrier of probiotics to consumer.