Microbial ecology and biomarker for authentication and quality assessment of dairy products

Short description:

This line is related to experimental research aimed at defining innovative markers, in dairy products, through the implementation of chemometric and omics techniques (e.g microbial community). These experiments intend to define rapid analytical protocols for the authentication of the dairy product (milk and cheese) in conventional, biological and extensive supply chains (mountain pasture), ie according to the degree of intensification of the production process. The application of biomolecular approaches together with the definition of specific markers (e.g. chemical-physical compounds or specific microbial targets) having a triple value: i) to act as markers of the production process / origin of the product; ii) be possibly classifiable as nutraceutical or functional compounds; iii) be involved in spoilage of the product.

Five publications related to the Research Topic for the interview:

  1. Dugat-Bony E, Garnier L, Denonfoux J, Ferreira S, Sarthou AS, Bonnarme P, Irlinger F. Highlighting the microbial diversity of 12 French cheese varieties. Int J Food Microbiol. 2016 Dec 5;238:265-273. doi: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2016.09.026.
  2. Montel MC, Buchin S, Mallet A, Delbes-Paus C, Vuitton DA, Desmasures N, Berthier F. Traditional cheeses: rich and diverse microbiota with associated benefits. Int J Food Microbiol. 2014 May 2;177:136-54. doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2014.02.019.
  3. Zhang Y, Kastman EK, Guasto JS, Wolfe BE. Fungal networks shape dynamics of bacterial dispersal and community assembly in cheese rind microbiomes. Nat Commun. 2018 Jan 23;9(1):336. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-02522-z.
  4. Application of next generation semiconductor based sequencing for species identification in dairy products. Ribani et al 2018. Food Chemistry 246 (2018) 90–98. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2017.11.006
  5. Segato S., Galaverna G. , Contiero B., Berzaghi P. Caligiani A., Marseglia A., and Cozzi G. Identification of Lipid Biomarkers To Discriminate between the Different Production Systems for Asiago PDO Cheese. J. Agric. Food Chem., 2017, 65 (45), pp 9887–9892 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.7b03629