Biodiversity of Refrigerated Raw Milk Microbiota and Their Enzymatic Spoilage Potential
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The refrigerated storage of raw milk selects for psychrotolerant microorganisms, many of which produce peptidases and lipases. Some of these enzymes are heat resistant and are not sufficiently inactivated by pasteurisation or even ultra-high temperature (UHT) treatment. In the current study, 20 different raw cow's milk samples from single farms and dairy bulk tanks were analysed close to delivery to the dairies or close to processing in the dairy for their cultivable microbiota as well as the lipolytic and proteolytic potential of the isolated microorganisms. Altogether, 2906 isolates have been identified and assigned to 169 species and 61 genera. Pseudomonas, Lactococcus and Acinetobacter were the most abundant genera making up 62% of all isolates, whereas 46 genera had an abundance of <1% and represent only 6.6%. Of all isolates, 18% belong to hitherto unknown species, indicating that a large fraction of the milk microbiota is still unexplored. The potential of the isolates to produce lipases or peptidases followed in many cases a genus or group specific pattern. All isolates identified as members of the genus Pseudomonas exhibited mainly lipolytic and proteolytic activity or solely proteolytic activity. On the other hand, nearly all isolates of the genus Acinetobacter were lipolytic but not proteolytic. Only 37% of all tested lactic acid bacteria (LAB) showed enzymatic activity at 6 °C and the type of activity was proteolytic in 97% of these cases.
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Refrigeration encourages the development of psychrotrophic bacteria while partially inhibiting the growth of mesophilic and thermophilic LAB.
“Refrigeration encourages the development of psychrotrophic bacteria while partially inhibiting the growth of mesophilic and thermophilic LAB.”
From Microbiota of Cheese Ecosystems: A Perspective on Cheesemaking (2025) · cites this paper as [107]
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“Firstly, to maintain the microbiological quality of milk and delay the growth of harmful or spoilage bacteria, milk can be cooled to different refrigerated temperatures at the farm [75,106,107].”
- Authors
- von Neubeck, M., Baur, C., Krewinkel, M., Stoeckel, M., Kranz, B., Stressler, T., Fischer, L., Hinrichs, J., Scherer, S., & Wenning, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Hohenheim (DE)
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Wenning, Mareike
- Venue
- International Journal of Food Microbiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-10
- Volume
- 211
- Pages
- 57-65
- ISSN
- 0168-1605 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W833922019
- Cited by
- 232
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 44.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- mediatum.ub.tum.de
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Food Microbiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- mediaTUM (Technical University of Munich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (AiF 16588N)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Milk Quality and Mastitis in Dairy Cows
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biotechnology › Microbial Inactivation Methods
- Keywords
- raw milk microbiota, refrigerated raw milk, psychrotolerant microorganisms, lipase, proteolytic enzymes, lipase activity, proteolytic activity, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Lactococcus, lactic acid bacteria, milk spoilage, heat-resistant enzymes, ultra-high temperature treatment
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Bacteria, Bacterial Proteins, Cattle, Female, Lipase, Milk, Pseudomonas, Biodiversity, Microbiota
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