Multiple interactions between Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus helveticus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii strongly affect their growth kinetics during the making of hard cooked cheeses.

In hard cooked cheeses, any interactions between the thermophilic starters as they grow during the cheese-making are critical, since they modify bacterial growth kinetics and acidification kinetics, so affecting the ripening process and the final characteristics of the cheese. Twenty-four experimental hard cooked cheeses were made under controlled conditions, the milk being inoculated with various combinations of thermophilic strains of Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus helveticus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii. Over the first day of manufacturing we recorded a wide range of different growth kinetics for each starter species used, and a wide range of pH kinetics, depending on the starter combination. Most of the bacterial variability could be statistically explained by the nature, quantity, and/or presence or absence of the different strains inoculated. Four main interactions between the three species were evidenced during cheese-making. There was antagonism between L. helveticus and L. delbrueckii. The lactobacilli had a positive effect on S. thermophilus, which was reciprocal for L. helveticus. L. helveticus had a negative effect on S. thermophilus cultivability. And the combination of S. thermophilus inoculated in large quantities and L. helveticus strain H2 had a negative effect on the growth of the L. delbrueckii strain D2. While the positive effect of L. delbrueckii on S. thermophilus probably corresponds to interactions in milk that have already been described and published, the other interactions were hitherto unknown. These interactions are of major importance for the growth kinetics of streptococci and thermophilic lactobacilli during cheese-making.