EN
The aim of this work was the determination of the ability of four commercial starter cultures of mesophilic lactococci to cholesterol assimilation during 24-hours-long culture in MRS broth medium at 30oC. The tested starter cultures showed various ability to assimilate cholesterol from culture medium varying from 10,4 ? 1,56% to 29,8 ? 5,22%. The results of this study proved the existence of significant differences in cholesterol assimilation ability between commercial starter cultures of mesophilic lactococci, and also even between individual repetitions for the same culture. The best cholesterol-assimilating starter culture of mesophilic lactococci was used for the production of sour cream, that was stored at 5-6oC for 14 days and tested in respect of microbiological (number of lactococci) and physicochemical properties (pH, titrable acidity, fat acidity, cholesterol content). During the 14-day refrigerating storage, the number of lactococci and pH did not change. Titrable acidity and fat acidity increased negligible. After the 14-day refrigerating storage, the decrease of the cholesterol content was observed. The decrease of cholesterol content in sour cream was over 35% in comparison with cholesterol content in sweet cream used for sour cream production and stored for 14 days at the same conditions as sour cream.