Starter cultures for acid curd - role and expectations

Lactic acid bacteria are industrially important microbes used all over the world in a large variety of industrial food fermentations. Cheese, cottage cheese, especially acid curd cheese, are characteristic dairy products for some Central and Eastern European countries. For production of acid curd cheese, only two components are needed: milk and lactic acid bacteria starter cultures. Starter cultures determine in large extent the technological process, the quality of the resulting quark and its shelf life. The composition of quark acid bacteria cultures is constituted in majority by Lactococcus and Leuconostoc bacteria. Selection of strains and construction of cultures with balanced species and stable composition for acid curd production is still very complex and presents a difficult challenge for producers of dairy cultures.