Use of ST Gal(+) bacteria for producing a fermented milk product with a relatively high stable pH

A method for producing a fermented milk product which has reduced post acidification during storage, comprising:

• (a) inoculating at least 100 L milk with a Streptococcus thermophilus (ST) bacteria composition comprising from 104 to 1014 CFU/g ST Gal(+) bacteria, wherein the ST Gal(+) bacteria reduce the amount of excreted galactose in milk by at least 10% as compared to reference ST strain CHCC4323 (deposited at Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH (DSMZ) under accession number DSM 32826), when assessed by inoculating 1% from overnight cultures of the ST Gal(+) bacteria or reference ST strain CHCC4323 into skim cow milk and incubating for 18 hours at 37° C., and then measuring galactose content in the fermented milk at the end of the fermentation;
• (b) fermenting the milk with the ST Gal(+) bacteria until the fermentation ends with a relatively high stable pH value from 4.3 to 4.9, wherein the pH does not change more than 0.1 pH units during the last 2 hours of the fermentation and wherein the pH from 4.3 to 4.9 is reached before 24 hours of fermentation, to obtain fermented milk;
• and
• (c) further processing the fermented milk obtained in (b) to obtain a fermented milk product, wherein the relatively high stable pH value from 4.3 to 4.9 in step (b) results in reduced post acidification during storage of the fermented milk product compared to a fermented milk product produced by an identical method except the milk was not fermented with ST Gal(+) bacteria.