A significant correlation (P < 0.05) between cheese and time was
found during the enumeration of E. coli (Table 5). The pathogen
populations were lower in cheese inoculated with the mix of LAB
isolates (cheese 2) and decreased linearly over time by 0.24 log
units per day. The negative control showed a lower linear decrease
over time of 0.0796 log units per day. Caridi, Micari, Foti,
Ramondino, and Sarullo (2003) affirmed that the reduction of coliforms
and E. coli, observed during ripening, suggests that they
could be inhibited by highly competitive LAB strains that are able to
prevail during ripening. In this study was observed that the addition
of LAB accelerated the decline of E. coli. The strains of LAB were
effective in the inhibition of E. coli in tests in vitro and in goat
cheese. Delbes-Paus et al. (2013) reported a synergistic interaction
between Hafnia alvei B16 and the microbial consortium, resulting in
an additional 0.7 log reduction in E. coli O26:H11 counts from day 8
in a model cheese ecosystem