Study of the Population Dynamics of and in Buffalo Mozzarella by Means of Challenge Testing.

Campania's buffalo mozzarella is a greatly appreciated cheese in Italy and worldwide. From a microbiological standpoint, it is a highly perishable food and potentially at risk of contamination by pathogens such as (. ). The present paper reports the results of a challenge test carried out to assess the population dynamics of . , alone and in presence of (), in buffalo mozzarella. For this purpose buffalo mozzarella samples were contaminated with . alone or combined with In samples where was inoculated alone, the bacterial load remained unchanged. On the contrary, in samples contaminated with and , the growth of increased.