Microbiological analysis
Representative 25 g curd or cheese samples were homogenized with 225 mL of a sterile 2% (w/v) sodium citrate solution, previously warmed to 45ºC, in a Stomacher Lab-Blender 400 (Seward Medical, England) for 1 min. Decimal dilutions were prepared in 90 mL of sterile 0.1% (w/v) peptone water and aliquots were plated in duplicate on a variety of media. Total viable count (TVC) and psychrotrophics were made on plate count agar incubated at 32ºC for 48 h and 7ºC for 10 days, respectively. Lactobacilli were enumerated on Rogosa agar acidified to pH 5.4 with acetic acid after incubation at 30ºC for 5 days in an anaerobic jar (Oxoid, Unipath Ltd., Basingstoke, England) with anaerobiose produced by Anaerocult A (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany).