Microbiological characteristics and identi fi cation of yeast microbiota of traditional mouldy civil cheese

Investigation of the traditional cheeses and bringing them to the industry contributes to the development of dairy technology in terms of quality and diversity. For this purpose, traditional Turkish mouldy Civil cheese, which has a rich microbial diversity and is lovingly consumed, was studied and its yeast flora revealed. Samples were evaluated in terms of aerobic plate count, psychrotrophic bacteria, proteolytic bacteria, yeast, mould, coliform, enterococci, presumptive lactobacilli, presumptive lactococci, Staphylococcus aureus and Enterobacteriaceae counts. Seventy isolates were characterised by RAPD-PCR with M13 primer. Six diverse species were detected: Yarrowia lipolytica, Kluyveromyces marxianus, Pichia membranifaciens, Debaryomyces hansenii, Pichia fermentans and Candida zeylanoides. As a result, yeast diversity in mouldy Civil cheese may have an important role on development of characteristic blue cheese flavour and selected yeast strains could be used as adjunct culture to improve the quality of the final product.