Terpene profiles in Cantal and Saint‐Nectaire‐type cheese made from raw or pasteurised milk

Abstract

Terpene profiles in cheese can be considered a 'terroir' fingerprint as the information contained in it should enable the pastures on which the animals were fed to be recognised. Yet a certain elasticity of the signature must be taken into account when determining authentication strategies, since products acknowledged as containing a common signature may have undergone certain procedures, such as cheese making and milk pasteurisation, that could have potentially altered their terpene profiles. In this study, Cantal and Saint-Nectaire-type cheeses were made from both raw and pasteurised milk from the same herd of dairy cows that had been grazed on natural grassland. Cheeses from raw and pasteurised milk were made from the same milking on the same days. Cantal and Saint-Nectaire-type cheeses were made on 4 different days, alternatively over four weeks. The terpenes in the cheese fat were analysed by dynamic headspace/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. A great diversity of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and oxygen-containing derivatives were identified. The major terpenes identified in most cheeses were β-caryophyllene, α-and β-pinene and limonene. Milk pasteurisation did not induce changes in the terpene profile of the cheese. Significant differences (p < 0.001) were observed between Cantal and Saint-Nectaire cheeses: α-pinene, β-myrcene and β-phellandrene were, respectively, three, five and five times more abundant in Cantal cheese, while tricyclene, α-phellandrene and geraniol were found exclusively in Cantal cheese. In contrast, unidentified sesquiterpenes with retention indices (KI) = 1342 and 1511, α-cubebene, longifolene and γ -elemene were more abundant or exclusively found in Saint-Nectaire cheese. A significant relationship with the date of milking (p < 0.01) was observed for α-pinene and tricyclene in Cantal, for β-myrcene, δ-3-carene, p-cymene and α-terpinene in Saint-Nectaire cheese.

Degradation and biosynthesis of terpenoids by lactic acid bacteria isolated from cheese: first evidence

“…As secondary plant metabolites, terpenes could also be ingested by animals and then transferred into associated milk and cheeses (Coulon et al 2004). This property was exploited by many authors in order to trace above all mountain dairy products (Coulon et al 2004;Cornu et al 2005;Favaro et al 2005;Fernández García et al 2008). Since LAB represent the main microflora of dairy products, the aim of this work was to investigate if some LAB strains, isolated from cheese, were able to degrade terpenes.…”

Ecological Interactions Within the Biodiversity of Cultivated Systems

“…Heavily fertilized and rich in nutrients, these pastures have a low florisitic diversity dominated by nitrophilous species. In contrast, pastures subject to less intensive practices are rich in flora, whose diversity determines the constitution of secondary composites including terpenes, a key factor for the organoleptic diversity of dairy products (Cornu et al 2005). Numerous interactions also exist between aboveground and belowground animal biodiversities in the cycle of returning organic matter back to the soil.…”

Assessment of lactic acid bacteria sensitivity to terpenoids with the Biolog methodology

“…Terpenoids were selected among those previously found in dairy products (Cornu et al, 2005;Belviso et al, 2011b). Moreover, on the basis of our unpublished data and as reported by other…”

“…Therefore, they have been studied in depth and proposed as biomarkers for dairy products produced from animals fed on mountain pasture (Coulon et al, 2004;Cornu et al, 2005;Fernandez Garcia et al, 2008;Renna et al, 2012). They were also indicated as capable to indirectly affect cheeses' sensory properties due to their antimicrobial effects on autochthonous or added microorganisms, mainly lactic acid bacteria (LAB), during cheese manufacture and ripening (Mariaca et al, 1997;Buchin et al, 1999;Bugaud et al, 2001;Martin et al, 2005).…”