Culture collection of dairy Microorganisms (CCDM) Lactoflora® is a unique czech collection of genetic resources of microorganisms usable for dairy and food applications. The collection was established in 1956 in Prague. Since 2004, the collection is located at at the current workplace of the Dairy research institute in Tábor. The activity of the collection is supported and funded by The national program of conservation and utilisation of genetic resources of plants, animals, and microorganisms important for nutrition and agriculture belongs to The Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic.. The collection is a member of the international federation of collections WFCC, where it is registered under number 878.

Generally, more than 980 strains are deposited in the collection in 2024. The lactic acid bacteria are represented more than 660 strains. Among the most represented genera are Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Enterococcus, Lactococcus, Propionibacterium. Another part of the collection consists of mixed dairy cultures counts 120 strains (yogurt, cream, etc.). The cultured moulds comprise 81 strains (especially Penicillium camemberti, P. roqueforti, P. nalgiovensis) and the yeast 87 strains (especially genera Saccharomyces, Kluyveromyces, Galactomyces, Kazachstania, Pichia, Candida). Information on individual strains is available in the online database on the website of the collection www.ccdm.cz. In 2019, the collection was expanded to include the Collection of dairy and bakery contaminants (CCDBC), which includes more than 100 strains of bacteria, yeasts and molds contaminating dairy and bakery operations and products.

The basis of the collection's activity is the care of the existing gene pool, which consists mainly in the regular renewal of collection strains, checking the stability of their key properties (biochemical and technological), identification and re-identification of strains and cultures (molecular-genetic methods, including DNA sequencing). Lactic acid bacteria are stored in a lyophilized state. Yeast, fungi and other bacterial strains are deposited on a suitable agar medium. All strains are also stored as an alternative method of cryopreservation in a deep-freeze box at - 70 °C.

Offered services:

• provision of collection strains (for teaching and research purposes free of charge)
• private depositing of cultures in the collection (without providing to a third party)
• isolation and identification of microbial strains from food matrices
• custom lyophilization of lactic acid bacteria
• preparation of selected growth media
• consulting and advisory activities