Suitability of a new mixed-strain starter for manufacturing uncooked raw ewe's milk cheeses

Most raw milk Ossau-Iraty cheeses are currently manufactured on-farm using the same commercial streptococcal-lactococcal starter (S1). One way to enhance the microbial diversity that gives raw milk its advantages for cheese-making is to formulate new starters combining diverse, characterized strains. A new starter (OI) combining 6 raw milk strains of lactococci, recently isolated and characterized, was tested in parallel with the current starter by making 12 Ossau-Iraty raw milk cheeses at 3 farmhouses under the conditions prevailing at each farm. Compliance of the sensory characteristics with those expected by the Ossau-Iraty professionals, physicochemical parameters and coliforms were quantified at key manufacturing steps. The new starter OI gave cheeses having proper compliance but having lower compliance than the S1 cheeses under most manufacturing conditions, while managing coliform levels equally well as starter S1. This lower compliance relied more on the absence of Streptococcus thermophilus in starter OI, than on the nature of the lactoccocal strains present in starter OI. The study also shows that variations in 5 technological parameters during the first day of manufacture, within the range of values applied in the 3 farmhouses, are powerful tools for diversifying the scores for the sensory characteristics investigated.