Raw milk cheeses are considered richer in flavor than cheeses made from pasteurized milk due to the beneficial impact of the microbial community in raw milk. However, the impact of starter and non-starter lactic acid bacteria (NSLAB) on cheese quality in terms of flavor, texture and ripening stability is still incompletely understood in Swiss cheese varieties. So far, mainly culture-dependent methods with a limited set of selective media were used to study microbial communities of Swiss raw milk cheeses. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) is a well-established method for detecting and quantifying bacteria. High-throughput qPCR (HT-qPCR) using microfluidics brings further advantages by providing fast results and by decreasing the cost per sample.
