Classification of dairy starter

THE STARTER

Garvie and Tamime classified the lactic starters based on their ability to grow at different temperature as follows.

Mesophilic lactic starters

Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis biovar diacetylactis, Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris.

Thermophilic lactic starters

Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus , Lactobacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum.

Miscellaneous bacteria

Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. freudenreichii, globosum. shermanii. The Propionibacterium shermanii is used in the manufacture of Swiss cheese.

The starter cultures may be preserved in the form of liquid, concentrated freeze dried or concentrated frozen at -196°C. The latter two types are suitable for DVI (direct vat inoculation) for the production of bulk starter or added directly to the cheese milk.

The production of a bulk starter is an important step in the successful cheese making process. During the recent past, the starter technology has shown tremendous improvement towards the ultimate objective of producing a pure and active culture.