Thomas Eliasson

PhD Project Title: The Pursuit of Flavour-Producing Lactobacilli Throughout the Dairy Value Chain

Earlier studies have shown that microflora is crucial for cheese maturation. The question is where it originates from and whether we can ensure it consistently reaches the cheese through the milk. Bacteria found in high-quality cheese often do not originate from the starter culture used during the cheese-making process. These are known as Non-starter lactic acid bacteria (NSLAB).

In Sweden, most dairy cows are primarily fed forage, which is mainly preserved as silage. Consequently, our pursuit of these NSLAB began in the field, investigating the microflora of typical forage plants and observing what happens when forage is fermented into silage using common ensiling treatments.

With the knowledge gained, a large feeding and cheese-making trial was set up in Umeå, in collaboration with SLU and Norrmejerier. Feed was produced and consumed by dairy cows at SLU’s research barn in Röbäcksdalen, Umeå, and milk was collected and transported to Norrmejerier’s dairy in Burträsk, where the cheese-making process was carried out.

The collected data from the production of feed, feeding trial, cheese-making, and the long cheese maturation process (almost two years) is now under evaluation. Hopefully, this will provide us with insights into where and how NSLAB enter the dairy value chain and how we can ensure their presence in the future.

Main Supervisor

  • Åse Lundh, SLU, Uppsala

Co-supervisors

  • Karin Hallin Saedén, Norrmejerier, Umeå
  • Annika Höjer, Norrmejerier, Umeå
  • Mårten Hetta, SLU, Umeå
  • Li Sun, SLU, Uppsala
  • Horacio Gonda, SLU, Uppsala

Location

Molecular Sciences, SLU, Uppsala and Norrmejerier, Umeå

About me

Thomas grew up in Kiruna and started his career as a postman for almost ten years. However, by coincidence, he became interested in agriculture and food production and has been involved ever since. After working as a farmhand at a dairy farm for a few years, he entered academia with the goal of contributing to sustainable northern food production. In 2018, he obtained an MSc and agronomy degree in animal science at SLU. He also studied animal nutrition at the University of Guelph in Canada during 2016-2017. Today, Thomas is an industrial PhD candidate in food science at SLU, in collaboration with the dairy company Norrmejerier.

Contact (email, and other links like Linkedin if you wish)

thomas.eliasson@slu.se or thomas.eliasson@norrmejerier.se

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-eliasson-54866010b/

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thomas-Eliasson