## 2 Materials and Methods
### Microbiological Analyses  
Cell suspensions of milk samples were directly subjected to decimal serial dilutions in [PERSON]'s solution, while GPP, curd and cheese samples (15 g) were first homogenized with [PERSON]'s solution (135 mL) by the stomacher Bag-Mixer 400 (Interscience, Saint Nom, France) for 2 min at the maximum speed (blending power 4) and then 1:10 serially diluted. Cell suspensions of GPP were used to enumerate the following microbial groups: Total mesophilic microorganisms (TMM) on plate count agar (PCA), after incubation at 30 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 72 h; LAB rods and cocci on de Man-Rogosa-Sharpe (MRS) agar and M17 agar, respectively, both incubated at 30 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 48 h in anaerbiosis; members of the _Enterobacteriaceae_ family, detected on violet red bile glucose agar (VRBGA), after incubation at 37 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 24 h; \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Analyses**} & \multicolumn{8}{c}{**Sampling Points**} \\ \cline{2-11} \multicolumn{2}{c}{} & \multirow{2}{*}{**BM**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**PBM**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**IM**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Curd t\({}_{0}\)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Acidified**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Cheese at t\({}_{0}\)**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Cheese at 15 d**} \\ \cline{5-11} \multicolumn{2}{c}{} & & & & & & & & & & \\ \cline{5-11} \multicolumn{2}{c}{} & & & & & & & & & & \\ \hline pH & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) \\ plate counts & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) \\ molecular typing & & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) \\ physical aspects & & & & & & & & & & \(\blacksquare\) & \(\blacksquare\) \\ chemical composition & & & & & & & & & & \(\blacksquare\) \\ VOCs & & & & & & & & & & & \(\blacksquare\) \\ sensory tests & & & & & & & & & & & \(\blacksquare\) \\ functional properties & & & & & & & & & & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* Two samples were analyzed for each production. Abbreviations: BM, bulk milk; PBM, pasteurized bulk milk before inoculum; IM, inoculated milk with Natural Milk starter cultures (NMSCs); Ctr, control; Exp, experimental; VOCs, volatile organic compounds.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Sampling points 1 and analyses performed during cheese production. ycasts on dichloran rose Bengal chloramphenicol (DRBC) agar, incubated at 28 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 24 h; coagulase-positive and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CPS and CNS, respectively) on Baird Parker (BP) agar added with rabbit plasma fibrinogen, incubated at 37 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 48 h; _Listeria monocytogenes_ on _Listeria_ selective agar base (LSAB) added with SR0140E supplement, incubated at 37 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 48 h; _Escherichia coli_ and _Salmonella_ spp., detected on Hektoen enteric agar (HEA), incubated at 37 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 24 h. Anaerobiciosis occurred in hermetically sealed jars added with the AnaerobicAN25 system (Oxoid, Milan, Italy). Cell suspensions of raw milk and pasteurized milk were subjected to plate count for the enumeration of TMM on Skim milk agar (SMA) ISO 6610 [17] incubated aerobically at 30 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 72 h; mesophilic rod-shaped LAB on MRS agar, acidified to pH 5.4 with lactic acid (5 mol/L) and incubated anaerobically for 48 h at 30 \({}^{\circ}\)C; thermophilic LAB rods were pour plated on whey-based agar medium (WBAM) prepared as described by [PERSON] et al. [18]; mesophilic and thermophilic coccus-shaped LAB on M17 agar, incubated anaerobically for 48 h at 30 and 44 \({}^{\circ}\)C, respectively. Milk inoculated with each NMSC, curd and cheese samples were analyzed only for TMM and _L.