Mycobiota Composition of Robiola di Roccaverano Cheese along the Production Chain

Abstract

Robiola di Roccaverano is a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) cheese from the Piedmont region of Italy. In this study, the mycobiota occurring during Robiola di Roccaverano production was elucidated. Samples of milk, Natural Milk Cultures (NMC), curd, 5- and 15-days ripened cheese were collected from one dairy plant and the mycobiota was analyzed by the metataxonomic approach. Milk samples showed a high diversity and Cladosporium, Kluyveromyces marxianus, Geotrichum candidum and Debaryomyces hansenii were found with higher relative abundance. This mycobiota remains quite stable in NMC and curd matrices although the relative abundance of K. marxianus and G. candidum yeasts increased significantly and shaped the fungal composition of 5- and 15-day ripened cheese.

The Bacterial and Fungal Microbiota of “Robiola di Roccaverano” Protected Designation of Origin Raw Milk Cheese

“…It is known to possess the ability to produce volatile aromatic compound due to its strong lipolytic and proteolytic activity, which could have a positive impact on flavor formation during blue-cheese production (Caron et al, 2021). Moreover, Saturnispora silvae, particularly detected in dairy E, was already isolated and identified from Robiola di Roccaverano cheese by culture-dependent methods and could be ascribed to an environmental source of contamination (Biolcati et al, 2020(Biolcati et al, , 2021. Finally, Kurtzmaniella anglica and Trichosporon coremiiforme, which were found mainly in dairy plants A, B, and E, respectively, were already detected in a previous work on Robiola di Roccaverano cheese (Biolcati et al, 2020).…”

“…During the production of Robiola di Roccaverano, the cheesemakers naturally select the best performing NMC that are well adapted to the dairy environment, able to ensure reproducibility and standardization of the final product without losing its typicality. Therefore, the sensory characteristics of Robiola di Roccaverano are highly influenced by the action of the microorganism deriving from raw milk and NMC (Biolcati et al, 2019(Biolcati et al, , 2020(Biolcati et al, , 2021, as well as by contaminating microorganisms often deriving from sources such as operators, dairy equipment, and environment (Montel et al, 2014). Despite understudied, the fungal composition of the dairy products, commonly referred to as mycobiota, could strongly influence the composition of the final cheese and must be considered for a better characterization of PDO cheese.…”

Microbial Dynamics of a Specialty Italian Raw Ewe’s Milk Cheese Curdled with Extracts from Spontaneous and Cultivated Onopordum tauricum Willd

“…Great interest is addressed to the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica for its proteolytic and lipolytic activities, and the consequent aroma development during cheese ripening [ 61 , 62 , 63 ]. To date, Y. lipolytica has frequently been identified in cheeses [ 64 ], whereas its occurrence in milk has more poorly been documented [ 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ]. However, Corbo et al [ 69 ] remarked the predominance of Y. lipolytica in ewe’s milk, which is characterized by a higher fat content than cow’s and goat’s milk.…”

Microbiological Quality of Some Artisanal Italian Cheeses Retailed in the Turkish Market

“…This PDO-type fresh cheese has five days of the ripening period, produced from Roccaverano-originated raw goat, sheep, and cow kinds of milk. However, it has been reported that it is obligatory not to use thermalization and to use 50 percent goat's milk to adhere to traditional methods in the production process of Robiola cheese (Biolcati et al, 2019;Biolcati et al, 2021).…”