EFFECT OF LIPOLYTIC GRAM-NEGATIVE PSYCHROTROPHS IN STORED MILK ON DEVELOPMENT OF RANCIDITY IN CHEDDAR CHEESE

The highest incidence of lipolytic activity among the psychrotrophic gram-negative flora of commercial raw milks was found in strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens and P. fragi. The lipases of all of the lipolytic strains remained wholly or partly active after heat treatment at 63.degree. C for 30 min. Two of the strains tested further had lipases which retained 20-25% of their activity, even when heated at 100.degree. C for 10 min. Cheeses made from milks in which strains or a single strain of lipolytic gram-negative rods (GNR) were allowed to multiply to > 107 colony forming units/ml became rancid after 4 mo., even though the GNR were killed by pasteurization. The rancidity was characterized by a soapy off-flavor in cheeses containing free fatty acid concentrations from 3-10 times higher than those in control cheeses made from stored milks with low counts of GNR. Strong rancidity could be reproduced by adding the culture supernatant of a pre-grown lipolytic strain, but not the washed cells, to milk and pasteurizing it immediately before cheese-making, demonstrating the extracellular nature of the rancidity-inducing lipases.