Indigenous raw milk microbiota influences the bacterial development in traditional cheese from an alpine natural park.
Nostrano di Primiero is a 6-month ripened cheese produced from raw milk collected in the Paneveggio-Pale di San Martino Natural Park area in the Italian Dolomites. In summer, this cheese is made using milk collected from two different areas, Passo Rolle and Vanoi, in the Paneveggio Natural Park. During the experiment, the milk from the two areas was separately processed, and cheeses were made in the same cheese factory using the same technological process. The microbiota of raw milk and cheeses of the two areas was isolated and the dominant population was monitored by RAPD analysis and identified by 16S rRNA sequence. The milk of the Passo Rolle area was mainly composed of mesophilic strains, thermophilic Streptococcus thermophilus, and low amounts of enterococci were also found; the milk of the Vanoi area was dominated by mesophilic microbiota mostly Lactococcus lactis ssp. cremoris and ssp. lactis and Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. paracasei. The plating of the natural starter culture revealed the presence of a relevant community of thermophilic cocci and lower amounts of enterococci. The dynamic population analysis showed the importance of the natural starter culture in the first 2 days of cheese ripening in both cheeses. Moreover, the large biodiversity observed in the raw milks was also detected in the cheeses during ripening. The Vanoi cheese was dominated by Enterococcus faecium and Streptococcus macedonicus in the first two days and mesophilic 21 Lb. paracasei ssp. paracasei became the most represented population after 15 days of ripening. In the first few days, the Rolle cheese was characterized by being mainly composed of thermophilic S. macedonicus and S. thermophilus and secondarily by mesophilic cocci. During ripening, the microbiota composition changed, and at 15 days, mesophilic lactobacilli were the dominant population, but later, this was mainly composed of mesophilic cocci and lactobacilli. The taxonomical identification by 16S rRNA sequence confirmed a large biodiversity related to raw milk microbiota and only five strains of S. macedonicus, Lactobacillus plantarum, 21 Lb. paracasei ssp. paracasei, Lactobacillus fermentum and E. faecium were detected in both cheeses.