Bacterial Diversity in Dried Colostrum and Whey Sold as Nutraceutical Products

The microbial communities were analyzed from commercially available dried dairy nutraceutical products, including 4 brands of dried colostrum, 2 brands of dried whey, and 1 brand of nonfat dry milk. A culture-dependent 16S rRNA sequencing approach was utilized to elucidate the identity of individual isolates recovered from each dried dairy product. Approximately 69% of all bacterial isolates were members the genus of Bacillus, while approximately 14% of all bacterial isolates were identified as members of the genus Pseudomonas. Members of the Kocuria, Microbacterium, and Enterococcus genera were identified as well. Practical Application: This project investigated the microbial populations inherent in dried commercially available nutraceutical products. Bovine colostrum has been reported to have protective activity against certain viral and bacterial pathogens. This project was designed to identify the bacterial populations within dried dairy nutraceutical products to determine if any species were common to all products and which may impact the reported nutraceutical properties.