Dairy Microbiology

Course description

The aim of the course is to give the students a thorough knowledge of raw milk microflora, and the microflora in non-fermented milk products as well as on microflora in starter cultures. Focus will be on primary and secondary starter cultures for dairy products, including the adventitious microflora associated with cheese.

The participants will through lectures and laboratory exercises obtain knowledge on microbiological analysis on organisms relevant for dairy products. Knowledge of the most important spoilage and patogens in dairy products will also been obtained.

The course will enable the participants to:

• Describe the composition of starter cultures and their use in dairy products and describe the secondary, adjunct and adventitious microflora found in cheese and their biochemical role in cheese ripening.
• Comprehend role of physiology of starter, secondary starter, adjunct cultures and non-starter bacteria in fermented dairy products.
• Apply principles for species and strain identification of dairy organisms.
• Analyse dairy product for relevant microorganisms using classical and molecular biology based methods and evaluate the putative source of them.

Practical information

The course is offered as a single-subject course at the Faculty of Science. Single-subject courses typically run for seven to nine weeks with scheduled activities approx. one day per week.

You will be attending the course together with full-time students from the Faculty of Science, and you must meet various admission requirements. The course ends with an exam.

The number of places is limited, and they are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, so do not delay your application!