feta and a pink discoloration that starts on the muslin

[peri7132]

I have just made 2 different batches of feta the first one friday when I checked about 4 hours later after hanging the butter muslin had a pink discoloration starting at the top it hadn't reached down to the actual feta, thought maybe the muslin was old discarded it and used new muslin I had just started using rehung when it was ready to be sliced and salted  there was some pink discoloration in a few places and only where it touched the muslin so I experimented after trying to research with out luck so I placed 2 pieces in its on container with the pink on a few places and heavily salted, placed 3 pieces and cut off any pink and salted as usual placed 3 peieces cut off all pink and salted as usual. The 2 pieces still had the pink so cut it all off as of right now no pink  3 pieces had pink on areas we didn't cut off that had been against the muslin cut all muslin touching edges off no pink now and the other 3 no pink made another batch and hung it 1 in new butter muslin and 1 in a new bag that i got at a wine store that is a nylon type bag the muslin one has pink both above the feta and also in areas that are touching the muslin. the nylon shows no pink that i can tell but harder to detect since it isn't as fine.

I can't believe I can't find anything or anyone that knows about this
probably have made 50+ batches of feta and this has never happened
1.is it because I am making Chevre at the same time as I am making the feta I can't remember in that past if I have done this before
2. from what I could find for other pink discoloration is it from the high humidity I don't keep track of weather long term but at this time it has rained no sun for 3 days but I can't believe i haven't had weather like when I have made feta before

anyone have any clue

[bbracken677]

the only thing that comes to mind, for me, is b.linens.  It is often used to ripen certain types of cheeses (like a muenster, for instance) and is also often found running wild in nature. It may be contamination from the muslin, or from your hands.

If I understand how it works it is commonly found on the human body and is not something to worry about although I have never seen it on feta. I believe that feta should normally be too salty to harbor it.

[peri7132]

the discoloration happens before salting and starts on the muslin both old and new interesting do you know if b.linens is found in  the feta culture

[Schnecken Slayer]

No, B Linens is not a part of making Feta.
If it is B L then it has come from the environment as bbracken said.

[BobE102330]

It strikes me as a heavy / aggressive contamination if you're seeing pink develop over the course of a few hours in the make. You may want thoroughly sanitize everything in and around your next make. Review your sanitizing procedure for effectiveness. Are you boiling long enough? 

 I had a linens contaminationldevelop in my cave that's was a bear to eliminate. I ended up with a couple unintentional linens rind cheeses when I was away a week. They were tasty but I was trying for montasio.