Autochthonous lactic acid bacteria may provide a means of promoting the quality and safety of traditional fermented food products, in particular, artisanal cheeses. Pico cheese is an artisanal, dairy specialty of the Azores in risk of disappearing. Efforts to maintain its quality to the requirements of the modern markets are, thus, necessary. Lactic acid bacteria were isolated from artisanal Pico cheese, identified by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, and their potential as starter cultures was evaluated by studying their acidification ability, enzymatic activities (caseinolysis, lipolysis and API-ZYM profile), diacetyl and expolysaccharide production, autolysis, antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7466, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29523, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and Clostridium perfringens ATCC 8357, sensory evaluation of odour formation in milk, syneresis and firmness of the curd. Several of the studied lactic acid bacteria isolates showed interesting properties for practical application as starters in artisanal cheese production. The isolates with the highest number of positive traits and, therefore, the most promising for starter development were Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis L1C21M1, Lactobacillus paracasei L1B1E3, Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides L1C1E6, Lactobacillus casei L1A1E5 and L1C1E8.
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