BB-kb+ner@ldeleger:BB-kb+ner-F-25064656-016 JSONTXT

A previous study reported that Psychroflexus casei gave a “red smear” color to Raclette-type cheese ( Seiler et al., 2012). Our hypothesis is that, in conjunction with B. linens and other bacteria, this bacterium could play a role in the orange-red coloration of Herve cheese. Indeed, in the raw and pasteurized cheeses studied here, B. linens were not the dominant bacteria in the rind (0.5 and 1.6% of raw and pasteurized rind microbiota, respectively), even though these bacteria had been inoculated during the manufacturing process. This result is in agreement with previous studies reporting that B. linens was not a significant member of the surface microbiota of smear cheese, even though it is still used as the major component of ripening cultures ( Brennan et al., 2002; Gori et al., 2013). It is also possible that other preponderant bacteria such as Psychrobacter and Staphylococcus play a role in the coloration of smear cheeses. As described previously ( Hoppe-Seyler et al., 2007), the yellow-orange color of the rind of these cheeses could be due to interactions between pigmented or nonpigmented B. linens and yellow-pigmented Arthrobacter ( Ogier et al., 2004; Leclercq-Perlat and Spinnler, 2010).