The Use of Various Forms of Oxygen in the Treatment of Abnormal Fermentation in Swiss Cheese

Abstract

Summary Ozone and oxygen had a somewhat similar effect in checking gassy fermentation in Swiss cheese occasioned by the introduction of spore-forming anaerobes and did not interfere with the normal functioning of the ripening agents. Within the limits used the temperature did not seem to influence appreciably the effectiveness of these germicides. Ozone, however, generally imparted such an objectionable flavor to the cheese as to render it unmarketable. In the case of oxygen some advantage was observed in introducing 20 cubic feet of the gas instead of 10 cubic feet. In two cases when oxygen was added to milk delivered once a day and the cheese was made upon a commercial scale without the addition of gas-producing organisms, favorable results were observed in checking nissler tendencies. This suggests, at least for this particular factory, that the organisms responsible for abnormal fermentations were anaerobic in character. The action of oxygen, as indicated by dilution and flask tests, seemed germicidal as well as inhibitory. In the case of air the oxygen appeared to be diluted too much to exert any favorable influence upon the gassy fermentation.