Lallemand Specialty Cultures announces new patented solution to control Listeria contamination in cheese
Image: Lallemand
When it comes to bioprotective solutions, Lallemand Specialty Cultures (LSC) strives to cater to all cheese makers. The contamination of cheeses by Listeria monocytogenes represents a major concern for the dairy industry as it can generate tremendous impacts from production loses to consumer food poisoning.
Listeria monocytogenes is a psychrotolerant and halotolerant bacteria. As such, it can grow at low temperatures and has the ability to persist in food‐processing areas and equipment. Cheeses made with unpasteurized or raw milk are estimated to be 50 to 160 times more likely to cause Listeria infection
compared to those made with pasteurized milk. Although pasteurization of milk kills Listeria monocytogenes, products made from pasteurized milk can still be contaminated by cross‐contamination from the production process or the environment.
In order to answer the rising demand for a natural and safe solution to this critical issue, LSC now offers the Lalcult Protect LC1, a bioprotective culture composed of an exclusive Carnobacterium maltaromaticum strain patented by University of Lorraine, a renowned French university.
Tests carried out at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE) have confirmed the bioprotective effect of Lalcult Protect LC1 through significant limitation of the growth of Listeria monocytogenes concentration on different cheese technologies