Microbial characterisation and stability of a farmhouse natural fermented milk from Spain

This work reports the microbial characterisation of a farmhouse natural fermented milk (NFM) with good sensorial properties produced in Spain. Culturing and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analyses showed thatLactococcus lactissubsp.lactis and L. lactissubsp.cremoris(approximate levels of 109 cfu/mL) were dominant in this NFM, whileLactobacillus plantarumappeared at a lower level (106-107 cfu/mL). Repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP)-PCR typing of the isolates identified single strains each ofLc. lactissubsp.lactis, Lc. lactissubsp.cremorisandLb. plantarum. These three strains formed a stable microbial association which has been maintained for at least some decades. © 2010 Society of Dairy Technology.This research was supported by projects from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) (AGL2007-61869-ALI) and Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA) (INIA-RM2006-00003-00-00). E. Fernández and A. Alegría awarded scholarships of FPI program from MICINN (BES-2008-002031) and Severo Ochoa program from FICYT (BP08-053), respectively. S. Delgado was supported by a research contract of MICINN under Juan de la Cierva program (JCI-2008-02391).Peer Reviewe