34 - REPORT OF THE BACTERIOLOGIST OF THD 
have flavors peculiar to themselves, and these flavors are the 
fundamental elements in what we designate as the flavor of the 
ripening cheese. In addition to these fundamental ones, there 
are special flavors in every cheese, on the basis of which it is 
classed as poor to extra, and these differences have not yet been 
accounted for solely on the basis of enzym action. } 
The present state of knowledge of the subject does not justify 
dogmatic statements as to the origin of those delicate and agree- 
able flavors which are so highly prized in cheese, but the trend 
of evidence favors bacterial activity. 
YEAST AS A NEW FACTOR IN CHEESE FLAVOR, 
A factor which in the past has been almost entirely ignored 
in work upon milk and cheese problems is the relation of yeast 
to the dairy industry. The occasional occurrence of yeasts in 
Cheddar cheese has been previously noted by a number of in- 
vestigators, but the fact that they may at times play an impor- 
tant part in the matter of flavor has been very generally over- 
looked. 
As the result of investigations detailed in the following article 
on sweet flavor it is ascertained that yeasts probably play a 
considerable rdle in the production of certain objectionable 
flavors which are annually the source of great financial losses in 
the State of New York. 
The real need of exact knowledge on a subject of so much 
practical importance as that of flavor is evident. The goal to 
be attained, particularly in the case of cheese, is a clear under- 
standing of the causes which produce the most desirable flavor, 
and of the best manner of assuring their constant operation. 
In attaining this end those well marked objectionable flavors 
which appear only at intervals, and offer least resistance to an 
analysis of the conditions under which they have been produced, 
become the natural avenue of attack upon the larger problem. 
The cases of fishy flavor in milk and bitterness in Neufchatel 
cheese herein described, may be taken as types of many of the 
sporadic troubles which perplex the dairyman. The methods 
