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The first negative effect of bacteriophages on dairy fermentation was reported in the mid 30s of the XX century [1]. Regardless of sanitary precautions, starter strain rotations and constant development of new phage-resistant bacterial strains, phages remain one of the main and economically most serious sources of fermentation failures. Due to their natural presence in the milk environment, bacteriophages cause problems in industrial dairy fermentations world-wide. Their short latent period, relatively large burst size and/or resistance to pasteurization makes them difficult to eliminate [2]. Phage-induced bacterial cell lysis leads to failed or slow fermentation, decrease in acid production and reduction of milk product quality (e.g. nutritive value, taste, texture, etc.), which in effect cause profound economical losses [3]. An intriguing high number of bacteriophages of *Lactococcus* and *Streptococcus* bacteria reflects the biotechnological interest and engagement of the dairy industry in research on biology of these phages [4].

Since *Lactococcus lactis* strains are widely used as starter cultures for milk fermentation during manufacturing of many types of cheeses, sour cream and buttermilk, bacteriophages virulent against these strains appear commonly in the fermentation environment. It is estimated that 60 – 70% of technological problems in production of cottage and hard cheeses are caused by bacteriophage infection of bacteria from the *Lactococcus* genus [5]. The raise of interest in lactococcal phages due to economical aspects has subsequently led to a more global research on the biology of lactococcal phages, ways of their appearance in dairy environments and means of their elimination as well as characterization of phage resistance mechanisms encoded by bacteria exploited by the industry.

© 2013 Kołakowski et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2013 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
