A mixture of nine microorganisms (six bacteria and three yeasts) from the microflora of surface-ripened
cheeses were subjected to in vitro digestive stress in a three-compartment “dynamic gastrointestinal
digester” (DIDGI). We studied the microorganisms (i) grown separately in culture medium only (ii)
grown separately in culture medium and then mixed, (iii) grown separately in culture medium and then
included in a rennet gel and (iv) grown together in smear-ripened cheese. The yeasts Geotrichum candidum,
Kluyveromyces lactis and Debaryomyces hansenii, were strongly resistant to the whole DIDGI
process (with a drop in viable cell counts of less than