Cheese quality and authenticity: new technologies help solve an age-old problem

Cheese represents a complex ecosystem of starter and non-starter bacteria, with populations changing over time as the cheese matures. Successive microbial communities, particularly in aged cheeses like cheddar, have a profound impact on the final cheese flavour and quality. Being able to accurately predict cheese ripening outcomes at an early stage, based on cost-effective analyses, would be of great benefit to cheesemakers. In the past, there has been a significant gap between microbiological and chemical information obtained from omics and its application to the cheese industry, but thanks to recent advances in omics analytical methods, computing programs and sensor technologies, this gap is narrowing.