MRS agar (Oxoid, United Kingdom) was used to enumerate total lactic acid bacteria in cheese samples during storage. 1.0 g of cheese sample was serially diluted in peptone water (Oxoid, Uni- ted Kingdom) solution followed by pour plating. The plates were incubated at 37 °C for 18 h anaerobically (Anarogen, Oxoid, United Kingdom). Yeast and mold counts were estimated by serial dilu- tion and pour plating on potato dextrose agar (Oxoid, United Kingdom) followed by 3–5 days incubation at 25 °C. Similarly, coliform counts were assessed on violet red bile agar (Oxoid, United Kingdom) (37 °C for 18 h incubation) (n1⁄43).