Cheese Production
L. lactis subsp. lactis (formerly Streptococcus lactis) is used in the early stages for the production of many cheeses, including Brie, Camembert, Cheddar, Colby, Gruyère, Parmesan, and Roquefort. The state Assembly of Wisconsin, also the number one cheese-producing state in the United States, voted in 2010 to name this bacterium as the official state microbe. It would have been the first and only such designation by a state legislature in the nation, however the legislation was not picked up by the Senate.
The use of L. lactis in dairy factories is not without issues. Bacteriophages specific to L. lactis cause significant economic losses each year by preventing the bacteria from fully metabolizing the milk substrate. Several epidemiologic studies showed the phages mainly responsible for these losses are from the species 936, c2, and P335 (all from the family Siphoviridae).
Read more about this topic: Lactococcus Lactis
Famous quotes containing the words cheese and/or production:
“A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be oversophisticated. Yet it remains cheese, milk’s leap toward immortality.”
—Clifton Fadiman (b. 1904)
“The growing of food and the growing of children are both vital to the family’s survival.... Who would dare make the judgment that holding your youngest baby on your lap is less important than weeding a few more yards in the maize field? Yet this is the judgment our society makes constantly. Production of autos, canned soup, advertising copy is important. Housework—cleaning, feeding, and caring—is unimportant.”
—Debbie Taylor (20th century)