Fermented dairy foods encompass a broad range of products that are appreciated across the globe. Production processes, whether industrial or artisanal (hand-made), type of milk (which varies according to the species and within the species), practices adopted during feeding, milking, and beyond can have a great influence on the quality characteristics and also affect the safety of these products. A large array of microorganisms can be found in milk, and microbial succession is known to be in effect during fermentation of multiple products as well as during ripening of many types of cheeses. In addition to technological and safety aspects, microorganisms present in fermented dairy products can also affect the health of individuals due to their potential probiotic nature and production of desired metabolites such as vitamins, anti-oxidants and antimicrobial compounds.

Despite several recent innovations on microbiological cultivation techniques (culturomics), including genomic approaches such as High Throughput Sequencing in combination with advanced metabolomics, there are many dairy fermented products with limited information about their microbial composition (diversity) and dynamics (succession). This is particularly true for traditional products, which vary according to the region in which they are produced and represent a rich niche for discoveries involving microbes better able to recover from perturbations and more effective in production, new microbial interactions and functions, and new bioactive molecules with beneficial effects in developing sensory properties and improving human health, among others.

The goal of this Research Topic is to deepen the knowledge in the microbiological safety and quality aspects of fermented dairy products, gathering studies from across the globe on the different types of products, practices, and how the microbiota affects quality and safety attributes of these much-appreciated foods. The use of modern omics approaches in the study of the microbiota and their metabolites in these products is encouraged, as long as there is a clear hypothesis being tested. Studies dealing with the discovery of new molecules such as bacteriocins, potential enzymes, and bioactive compounds such as CLA and GABA are also welcome as long as there is a clear connection with fermented dairy products.

This Research Topic supports high quality Original Research articles, Perspectives, and Reviews in the field of microbiology of fermented dairy products. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Use of state-of-the-art methods (including microbiome and metabolomic studies) to determine the quality and safety of fermented dairy products
• Safety of novel microbes for technological beneficial use in fermented dairy products
• Antimicrobial compounds, bioactive peptides, and pathogen control by microorganisms found in traditional fermented products
• Production of bioactive compounds (CLA, GABA, bioactive peptides)
• Food safety from farm to table in the production of fermented dairy products
• Ecological (microbiological) succession on fermented dairy products
• Microbial interactions during production and ripening of cheeses
• Genetics and genomics of microorganisms present in ripened cheeses
• Virulence potential of microorganisms found in ripened cheeses
• Designing synthetic microbial communities for application in fermented dairy products
• Biotechnological potential of microorganisms from fermented dairy products

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Frontiers in Microbiology

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