hBacterial genomic DNA was extracted using the silica columnmethod with the General Rapid Easy Extraction System (GREES)DNA kit (InCura S.r.l., Cremona, Italy), according to the manu-facturer’s instructions. Before DNA extraction, milk samples wereclarified as described by Rasolofo et al. [22], and 1 mL was used forboth the experiment and the NWC samples. Grated 48-h cheeseswere ground in a mortar and 450 mg were then used