The impact of the combined lactoperoxidase and pasteurisation treatment on the safety of goat milk and cottage cheese

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of the Lactoperoxidase system (LPS) alone and in combination with pasteurisation, on the growth of Listeria monocytogenes (LM) ATTC 7644 in goat milk and goat milk cottage cheese during a shelf life of 10 days at 4 °C. Goat milk was inoculated with LM ATTC 7644 and divided into two samples, one the control and Lactoperoxidase (LP) was activated in the other sample. Both the control and LP activated samples were kept at ambient temperature for 6h. After 6h the control and LP activated samples were again divided into two and one of the respective samples was pasteurised at 72 °C for 15 s. All the four samples were analysed for LM ATTC 7644 immediately after LP activation at 0h, after 6h of LP activation and after pasteurisation. Goat milk cottage cheese was made with all four samples, i.e. control raw, control pasteurised, LP activated raw and LP activated pasteurised goat milk and analysed for LM ATTC 7644 on days 1, 2, 5, and 10. Six hours after LP activation the mean LM ATTC 7644 count for the LP activated milk decreased by log 0.5 cfu/ml where as the LM ATTC 7644 for the control increased by log 0.5 cfu/ml. The reduction of LM ATTC 7644 count in LP activated milk when compared to the control shows that goat milk lactoperoxidase is capable of reducing L. monocytogenes when stored at ambient temperatures. Furthermore, LM ATTC 7644 count in LP activated pasteurised goat milk decreased by log 1.1 cfu/ml more, compared to the control pasteurised goat milk. Therefore, pasteurisation together with LP activation may be more effective than pasteurisation alone in controlling the growth of L. monocytogenes in goat milk. For the control raw goat milk cottage cheese on day 10, the LM ATTC 7644 count was 90 % less than on first day of storage. The LP activated raw goat milk cottage cheese count followed a similar trend to the control raw goat milk cottage cheese, and reached levels of log 2.9 cfu/g on the last day of storage. The control pasteurised goat milk cottage cheese LM ATTC 7644 count on day 10 was 92 % lower compared to day 1 where as the LP activated pasteurised goat milk cottage cheese LM ATTC 7644 count was 98 % less than on day 1. The results of this study indicate that the activation of the LPS significantly (p≤0.05) decreased the LM ATTC 7644 count in goat milk, during a period of 6h. Combined pasteurisation and LP activation had a synergistic effect on the LM ATTC 7644 count in goat milk. The LM ATTC 7644 count declined in cottage cheese made from both control and LP activated goat milk. A greater decrease was observed in LP activated pasteurised goat milk cottage cheese over the storage period of 10 days at 4 °C. This combination may be used to reduce the multiplication of LM ATTC 7644 for production of safer products like goat milk and goat milk cottage cheese.