Considerations regarding the bacteriological quality of raw milk in hard cheese technology

The use of heat treated milk would entail the loss of a great genetical variety and the reduction to a very limited number of genotypes. As great efforts are made to save every species of animals and plants, because they contain a well defined genetic unit in themselves, so it is to be hoped in the dairy field that all ''races'' and kinds of bacteria not vet recognisable as useful or easy to grow are not wiped out. Their survival for the future should be allowed so their role can be better understood.

The production of cheeses from raw milk allows the presence of a wider variety of bacteria richer than those obtained from pasteurised milk added with commercial starters. Over the centuries the technologies of traditional cheeses have generated such complex bacterial ecosystems that it is impossible to reproduce them exactly by means of selected starters.