## 3 Results
### Cultivable Microbiota of TAP Cheeses  
The cell density of total mesophilic microorganisms ranged from 4.6 (Pecorino) to 6.3 (Cacioricotta cheese) log CFU g\({}^{-1}\) (Figure 2).  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline  & **Caprino** & **Pecorino** & **Vaccino** & **Cacioricotta** \\ \hline Moisture (\%) & 34.18 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \(\pm\) 1.18 & 30.98 \({}^{\mathrm{cd}}\) \(\pm\) 1.59 & 31.99 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) \(\pm\) 1.32 & 38.10 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \(\pm\) 1.24 \\ Fat (\%) & 29.42 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \(\pm\) 0.50 & 35.14 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \(\pm\) 0.5 & 34.25 \({}^{\mathrm{ab}}\) \(\pm\) 0.5 & 27.08 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) \(\pm\) 0.5 \\ Protein (\%) & 26.14 \({}^{\mathrm{ab}}\) \(\pm\) 0.30 & 27.09 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \(\pm\) 0.20 & 24.54 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \(\pm\) 0.30 & 22.13 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) \(\pm\) 0.30 \\ Carbohydrates (\%) & 0.71 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) \(\pm\) 0.20 & 1.40 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \(\pm\) 0.20 & 1.43 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \(\pm\) 0.30 & 4.20 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \(\pm\) 0.20 \\ NaCl (\%) & 0.61 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) \(\pm\) 0.20 & 0.91 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \(\pm\) 0.20 & 0.90 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \(\pm\) 0.20 & 6.23 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \(\pm\) 0.20 \\ A\({}_{\mathrm{w}}\) & 0.879 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \(\pm\) 0.05 & 0.868 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) \(\pm\) 0.03 & 0.858 \({}^{\mathrm{d}}\) \(\pm\) 0.04 & 0.905 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \(\pm\) 0.07 \\ pH & 5.22 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \(\pm\) 0.02 & 5.23 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \(\pm\) 0.04 & 5.30 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \(\pm\) 0.03 & 5.93 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \(\pm\) 0.03 \\ \hline \end{tabular} a-d Values in the same row with different letters are significantly different (_p_ < 0.05).  
\end{table}
Table 1: Gross chemical composition (expressed in percentage, _w/w_), values of water activity (A\({}_{\mathrm{w}}\)), and pH of Caprino, Pecorino, Vaccino, and Cacioricotta TAP cheeses.  
Presumptive mesophilic lactobacilli varied between 4.3 (Pecorino) and 5.7 (Vaccino cheese) log CFU g\({}^{-1}\). The highest (\(p<0.05\)) number of mesophilic coccus-shaped LAB was found in Cacioricotta cheese (ca. 7.4 log CFU g\({}^{-1}\)), whereas the lowest (\(p<0.05\)) was found in Caprino cheese (ca. 3.6 log CFU g\({}^{-1}\)). Presumptive thermophilic lactobacilli ranged from ca. 4.0 (Pecorino and Cacioricotta) to ca. 5.0 (Caprino and Vaccino cheees) log CFU g\({}^{-1}\). Thermophilic streptococci were found at cell densities varying from 3.0 (Caprino) to 4.9 (Pecorino cheese) log CFU g\({}^{-1}\). The cell density of presumptive enterococci ranged from 2.8 (Pecorino) to 5.2 (Cacioricotta cheese) log CFU g\({}^{-1}\). The highest (\(p<0.05\)) number of presumptive staphylococci was found in Cacioricotta cheese (5.3 log CFU g\({}^{-1}\)), whereas these bacteria were found to have the lowest (\(p<0.05\)) number in Caprino and Vaccino cheees (order of magnitude: 2 log CFU g\({}^{-1}\)). No colonies grown on Baird-Parker could be presumptively attributed to _Staphylococcus aureus_, based on their aspect and the absence of a clear halo surrounding them. _Enterobacteriaceae_ were in the order of 2 log CFU g\({}^{-1}\) in all the cheees, except for Cacioricotta, where they were found at 3.3 log CFU g\({}^{-1}\). No presumptive _Pseudomonas_ sp. were detected in all the cheees. Yeasts number was ca. 2.5 log CFU g\({}^{-1}\) and did not differ (\(p>0.05\)) among Caprino, Pecorino and Vaccino cheees. The lowest (\(p<0.05\)) number of yeasts (1.0 log CFU g\({}^{-1}\)) was found in Cacioricotta (Figure 2).  
Presumptive mesophilic and thermophilic lactobacilli and cocci were found in NWS cultures used for Caprino (CNWS) and Vaccino (VNWS) cheees at an order of magnitude of 6.0 log CFU g\({}^{-1}\), without any statistical (\(p>0.05\)) differences between the cultures (data not shown).