Behavior of Listeria monocytogenes in Mozzarella cheese in presence of Lactococcus lactis

The behavior of Listeria monocytogenes (Scott A) on fully processed Italian Mozzarella cheese was examined in presence and in absence of bacteriocins produced by Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis strains (DIP 15 and DIP 16). These strains, isolated from raw milk, produced heat stable bacteriocins that were inactivated by pronase, alpha- chymotrypsin and proteinase K, but not by pepsin, trypsin and catalase. The addition of crude bacteriocins to the growing culture of Listeria monocytogenes resulted in a significant reduction in cell number at 5 °C, but not at 30 °C. Mozzarella cheese was inoculated with the Listeria culture to obtain an initial level of approximately 30 CFU/cm2 surface of Mozzarella and approximately 103 CFU/ml of the surrounding fluid and then packaged in bags containing the heat-treated neutralized-cultures of Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis in skim milk (in Italy, Mozzarella is sold in small size pieces, individually packaged in bags containing some fluid). Bags were stored at 5 °C up to 21 days. The presence of bacteriocins resulted in apparent death of Listeria monocytogenes after 24 h storage. After 7 days of storage, a revival of Listeria monocytogenes was observed, followed by an increase in number. However, for a storage period of 2–3 weeks the number of Listeria monocytogenes remained significantly below the number observed for Mozzarella cheese packaged in absence of the heat-treated cultures of Lactococcus lactis.