Abstract
Abstract Matured blue cheese can be made from cow's milk associated with the inoculated fungus Penicillium roqueforti, which guarantees specific sensorial characteristics. Recently, Brazil’s fine cheese production and consumption have increased by more than 200%, highlighting the relevance of microbiological quality control of these products. Fungal contaminations are responsible for significant losses in cheese production and provide a suitable environment for mycotoxins production, constituting a hazard to public health. In this work, we evaluated the mycological contamination profile of matured blue cheeses commercialized in Brazil. Samples of ten different brands were analyzed by serial dilution method, by plating in the Dicloran Rose of Bengal Chloramphenicol (DRBC) culture medium and Dicloran Glycerol Medium Base (DG18). Subsequently, different fungi morphotypes were isolated and morphologically identified. As a result, 461 fungi were isolated and identified, notably Aspergillus aculeatus, Penicillium roqueforti and Penicillium solitum. All samples were contaminated by filamentous fungi, amongst those, many already reported as mycotoxin producers, which underlines the relevance of microbiological monitoring.
Highlights
Blue cheese is characterized by its moldy flavor and blue-green veined appearance, created by maturation process and Penicillium roqueforti growth that produces lytic enzymes such as lipases and decarboxylases (Cantor et al, 2017)
Sample 1 data highlights the relevance of complete morphological characterization, since most of this sample’s amount of isolated fungi (Figure 1) do not belong to any other species rather than P. roqueforti (Figure 2)
Aflatoxin M1 is the only mycotoxin controlled by the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) in cheese, a maximum tolerable limit is 2.5 μg/kg (Brasil, 2011), Aspergilli species reported in this work belong mainly to Nigri section, known as black aspergilli, A. aculeatus is a member of Nigri section and was by far the most prevalent species characterized in all analyzed samples (Figure 3)
Summary
Blue cheese is characterized by its moldy flavor and blue-green veined appearance, created by maturation process and Penicillium roqueforti growth that produces lytic enzymes such as lipases and decarboxylases (Cantor et al, 2017). These enzymes can convert the fatty acids via β-oxidative pathways, increasing the presence of methyl-ketones, mostly 2-pentanone, 2-heptanone and 2-nonanone, directly involved in blue cheese sensory characteristics (Cao et al, 2014). This work assesses the mycological profile in ten different brands of MBCs commercialized throughout Brazil
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