A comparison between the microflora of Herrgaerd cheese from three different dairies

The microflora of Herrgaerd cheese produced at three dairies was grouped by phenotypical key tests and typed by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Ten cheeses from the same vat at each dairy were analysed, five after 3 and another five after 6 months of ripening. All cheeses were organoleptically graded as Herrgaerd after uniform national standards, and only small but characteristic differences were found between cheeses from different dairies. Cheese from two dairies were dominated by a spontaneous secondary microflora of Lactobacillus from 3 months of ripening, while strains from the starter culture still dominated in cheese from the third dairy after 6 months. The Lactobacillus flora from the different dairies were mainly of diverse RAPD types, but of the 24 different RAPD types found, three were isolated from cheese made at two different dairies and two other RAPD types were isolated from cheese from all three dairies. A succession of different RAPD types was shown at one dairy.