This thoroughly revised and updated reference provides comprehensive coverage of the developments and scientific advances in dairy microbiology, emphasizing probiotics, fermented dairy products, disease prevention, and public health and regulatory control standards for dairy foods. This edition includes added chapters on the use, metabolism, and genetics of starter cultures, addresses the resurgence of ropy milk in the modern dairy, and offers expanded coverage on Escherichia coli 0157: H7 and bovine spongiform encephalopathy. It also includes preventive measures against Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and provides current bacterial standards for dried milk products.