Preface. Microbiological Opportunities and Challenges in the Dairy Industry

"Microbiology in Dairy Processing: Challenges and Opportunities" introduces and reviews the knowledge regarding dairy technologies and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and dairy associated species in the fermentation of dairy products for laboratory technicians and researchers and students learning the protocols for LAB isolation and characterisation. It provides application notes useful in laboratories of food technology departments and for students and researchers studying all aspects of the milk-processing industry, from microbiology to food productions. The chapters deal with the industrial processing of milk - the problems solved and those still affecting the processes, from microfiltration to deterioration of stored milk in cold by psychotropic bacteria (such as Pseudomonas fragi) and by spore-forming bacteria - and cheese-manufacturing technologies. The book introduces culture methods and species-selective growth media to grow, separate and characterise LAB and dairy-associated species, molecular methods for species identification and strain characterization, Next Generation Sequencing for genome characterization, comparative genomics, phenotyping, and current applications in dairy and non-dairy productions, as well as the potential future exploitation of the culture of novel strains with useful traits (probiotics, fermentation of sugars, metabolites produced, bacteriocins). Lastly, the potential for milks of different origin to be administered to individuals suffering of milk allergies or intolerance is discussed. Microbiology in Dairy Processing: Challenges and Opportunities is directed to the following: dairy scientists; dairy professionals in industry and academia; those in food science, dairy science and microbiology; intermediate course and post-graduate students; trained laboratory personnel; and R&D and production personnel in dairy industry companies of all sizes. The idea to write this book came from the section "Questions" in the Researchgate community. I realised that there is a need to introduce lactic acid bacteria (LAB) growth media at various levels of expertise, from young researchers starting their laboratory work to food technologists devoted to microbiological analyses. Therefore, from this starting point, I searched the recent literature and produced a list of exceptionally interesting publications on how far the genomics field has advanced in its knowledge of LAB species in recent years. The chapters in this book reflect these advancements and offer a panoramic view of the research fields in which to apply these advancements in knowledge, either for LAB and dairy-associated species and their applications in dairy productions and for the technologies to maintain the milk products safe and devoid of undesired pathogens and milk spoilage bacteria. The challenges of dairy microbiology are either to maintain the product safety devoid of undesired bacteria that may spoil the quality and change the taste or to the further advancement in the microbiota and the interaction among bacteria at community level. The opportunities remain in the exploration of the biodiversity of LAB and dairy-associated species, either at genome rearrangements and horizontal gene transfer or at the biochemistry level, to produce novel dairy products that are low fat, low salt, or with beneficial properties for human health.