The TVC was determined using Hansen's Yoghurt Agar (HYA) as
growth media (Keating&White, 1990). From the appropriate dilutions (i.e., 10
5
,10
6
and 10
7
), 1 mL was pour plated on sterile
petri plates and a molten HYA (15e20 mL) was added. Triplicates of
appropriate decimal dilutions of the yoghurt sample on HYA were
incubated at 37
C for 72 h. Results were reported in log10(CFU g
1
of yoghurt). Counts on two consecutive dilutions, which gave less
than 300 colonies per plate were used to calculate the weighted
average of colony forming units per gram of yoghurt sample (N):