Biopreservation of traditional raw milk cheeses with an emphasis on Serbian artisanal cheeses and their historical production

Abstract

Cheese is one of the oldest food products with preservation based on fermentation, the most common and perhaps the oldest biotechnology. It relies on the biochemical action of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and is regarded as health-friendly by consumers. Some autochthonous LAB, worldwide and in Serbia, have been characterized as effective producers of antimicrobial compounds such as low-molecular-weight metabolites, hydrogen peroxide, bacteriocins, and bacteriocin-like molecules, and so have demonstrated great potential as food . The raw milk cheese microbiota, as a good source of novel bacteriocinogenic LAB with high diversity of microbial activity, is key in controlling the microbial load in cheese and achieving diverse sensory characteristics.