Enhancing the Value of Organic Milk

Solange Buchin and Odile Rolet-Répécaud (URTAL), together with Thomas Puech (UR ASTER Mirecourt), shared key findings from the BIOSYLF project at the METABIO Seminar (March 21–22, 2023, Saint-Malo, France):

1. Milking practices significantly influence microbial diversity in milk: Combining milk from multiple producers does not diminish this microbial diversity (see illustration).
2. The acidification kinetics during cheese-making is faster with the addition of a reductive lactic starter, regardless of the technology used (cooked pressed cheese or uncooked pressed cheese)
3. The use of a reductive lactic starter improves consistency in the cheese-making process.
4. Uncooked pressed cheese (PPNC) technology used in the study proved more sensitive to the studied variables:
   • Seasonal variations had a pronounced impact on the taste and aroma of cheeses, with PPNC being particularly affected.
   • Adding a reductive lactic starter significantly influenced the flavor and aroma of PPNC in winter.
5. Cooked pressed cheese (PPC) technology used in the study mitigated seasonal effects during cheese-making while allowing the potential of raw milk to be expressed in the ripened cheeses. PPC technology was successfully used to process milk from four producers in the study, within a cheese dairy in Haute-Saône, achieving strong economic value for the milk.
6. Weather conditions during the experiment limited the ability to test certain hypotheses. The rainy summer of 2021, unlike recent dry summers, prevented the evaluation of the reductive starter’s effects under drought conditions.

Metagenomic analyses conducted by UMRF-Aurillac on milk and cheese samples will further enrich these findings.

Poster séminaire METABIO

Contact :

• URTAL : eric.beuvier@inrae.fr, odile.rolet-repecaud@inrae.fr
• ASTER : thomas.puech@inrae.fr
• UMRF : celine.delbes@inrae.fr