Adjunct cultures: recent developments and potential significance to the cheese industry.

Several previous reviews have described different ways to enhance the flavor and texture of cheese, including use of live cells and nonviable attenuated cells as adjunct cultures. However, comparisons between viable and nonviable cultures were never discussed in these reviews. In addition, recent publications on adjunct cultures have not been covered in previous reviews. This article will survey the more recent work on adjunct cultures--with particular attention to whether the adjuncts contained viable or nonviable cells--and propose areas where additional research is needed.