UConn research helps producers keep cheese safe

“If there are pathogenic bacteria in raw milk and you make cheese from that milk, they can propagate and that can cause illness,” says Dennis D’Amico, associate professor of dairy foods in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, at the University of Connecticut.

D’Amico has identified commercially available protective cultures with the highest chance of being effective against Listeria monocytogenes, the foodborne pathogen responsible for listeriosis.

His research is among the first peer-reviewed studies to provide cheese producers with definitive evidence about how these cultures work.