## 4 Discussion
### pH and Water Activity (A\({}_{w}\))  
According to our study, the measured pH values of the Greek light and full-fat semi-hard sliced cheeses, packed under a modified atmosphere (MAP), in the \"Food Control Samples\" ranged from 5.68 to 6.23 in the three Batches of light cheeses and from 5.63 to 6.23 in the three Batches of full-fat cheeses. On the other hand, the measured a\({}_{w}\) values in  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Day (Storage Temperature)**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Mesophilic Aerobic Count in**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Lactic Acid Bacteria (Lab) in “Control**} \\  & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**“Control Units” (log\({}_{10}\) CFU/g)**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Units” (log\({}_{10}\) CFU/g)**} \\ \hline Day 0 5 \({}^{\circ}\)C & 7.36 & 7.65 & 8.11 & 7.15 & 7.55 & 7.87 \\ Day End 10 \({}^{\circ}\)C & 7.80 & 7.77 & 7.88 & 7.02 & 7.36 & 7.66 \\ \({}^{\star}\) \% Change from & 6.05\% & 1.60\% & \(-\)2.85\% & \(-\)1.76\% & \(-\)2.56\% & \(-\)2.66\% \\ \multicolumn{7}{l}{\({}^{\star}\) \% Change = \(\frac{Final\ value-Initial\ value}{Initial\ value}\times 100\).} \\ \hline \multicolumn{7}{l}{\({}^{\star}\) \% Change = \(\frac{Final\ value-Initial\ value}{Initial\ value}\times 100\).} \\ \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 8: The enumeration of mesophilic aerobic count and lactic acid bacteria (Lab) in the “Control Unit” samples in the three Batches of light semi-hard sliced cheeses.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Day (Storage Temperature)**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Mesophilic Aerobic Count in**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Lactic Acid Bacteria (Lab) in “Control**} \\  & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**“Control Units” (log\({}_{10}\) CFU/g)**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Units” (log\({}_{10}\) CFU/g)**} \\ \hline Day 0 5 \({}^{\circ}\)C & 7.58 & 7.67 & 6.91 & 7.42 & 6.92 & 6.14 \\ Day End 10 \({}^{\circ}\)C & 6.91 & 7.60 & 7.85 & 6.07 & 6.00 & 6.04 \\ \multicolumn{7}{l}{\({}^{\star}\) \% Change from} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{\(-\)8.82\%} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{\(-\)0.84\%} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{13.65\%} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{\(-\)18.17\%} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{\(-\)13.27\%} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{\(-\)1.72\%} \\ \multicolumn{7}{l}{\({}^{\star}\)Day 0” to “Day End” (Day 181)} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{\({}^{\star}\)\% Change = \(\frac{Final\ value-Initial\ value}{Initial\ value}\times 100\).} \\ \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 9: The enumeration of mesophilic aerobic count and lactic acid bacteria (Lab) in the “Control Unit” samples in the three Batches of full-fat semi-hard sliced cheeses.  
the same samples in the three Batches of light cheeses ranged from 0.65 to 0.81, and in the three Batches of full-fat cheeses, they ranged from 0.69 to 0.82.  
The measured pH values in the three Batches of the \"Control Unit\" samples of light cheeses on \"Day 0\" ranged from 5.69 to 6.30 and 6.21 to 6.58 on \"Day End\". The pH values in the three Batches of the \"Control Unit\" samples of full-fat cheeses on \"Day 0\" ranged from 5.62 to 6.14 and 5.91 to 6.87 on \"Day End\". The \(\mathrm{a_{w}}\) values in the same samples in the three Batches of light chees on \"Day 0\" ranged from 0.68 to 0.80 and 0.65 to 0.78 on \"Day End\" and in the three Batches of full-fat cheeses on \"Day 0\" ranged from 0.70 to 0.786 and 0.71 to 0.81 on \"Day End\". The measured pH values in both the \"Food Control Samples\" and the \"Control Unit\" samples of both types of chees approach the most suitable values for \(Lm\) growth (pH \(\approx\) 7.0). In the \"Control Unit\" samples, the measured pH values in both cheese types from \"Day 0\" to \"Day End\" had a minimal increase. The \(\mathrm{a_{w}}\) values in the same samples from \"Day 0\" to \"Day End\" remained at the same levels. In total, while the pH values approach the optimum value for \(Lm\) growth, the \(\mathrm{a_{w}}\) values do not support the growth of \(Lm\) but are suitable for its survival.