Table 1.

Pros and cons of selected and natural starter cultures.

Type of culture	Pros	Cons
Selected	Easy to prepare and manage	Poorly flexible system
	Easy check for purity and activity	High sensitivity to phage attack, cultures rotations are needed
	Standardized activity	Not suitable for many PDO, traditional and typical products
Natural	Low sensitivity to phage attack	Problems in the case of predominance of low performances strains
	Better adaptability to the raw material to be processed	Difficult to standardize natural starter culture reproduction, concentrations and performances
	Symbiotic effects	Original balance among species and strains difficult to preserve and check
	Unique sensory quality of the product (the only allowed for many PDO, traditional and typical products)	Difficulties in products sensory quality standardization