ripeningThe trend of microbiota dynamics by time, enumeration andspecies determination using LH-PCR was investigated from sixdifferent GP production cycles. Media values were analysed byANOVA statistical analysis (Table 1) in order to compare the sig-nificances between different phases of production. Cheese-basedmedium (CAM) [20] was the most useful for studying the NSLABmicrobiota adapted for growing in a sugar-free medium, therefore,potentially able to survive and grow in the cheese environmentand during ripening. Cultivable NSLAB counts in vat milk, evalu-ated on CAM, were higher (P < 0.05) than in NWC, indicating thatthe origin of this microbiota was mainly the vat milk. However,by using CAM it was possible to verify that NSLAB potentiallyable to survive and grow may have also arisen from NWC. Thisaspect has not been previously revealed in GT NWC samples[19,25] or in experimental NWC [31]. On the other hand, CAM wasused to reveal this type of NSLAB in Parmigiano Reggiano NWC[7,13,20].