The microbiota of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO cheese: a study across the manufacturing process

Abstract

IntroductionMozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO cheese (MBC) is a globally esteemed Italian cheese. The traditional cheesemaking process of MBC relies on natural whey starter culture, water buffalo's milk, and the local agroecosystem.MethodsIn this study, the microbial ecology of intermediate samples of MBC production, coming from two dairies with slightly different cheesemaking technology (dairy M large producer, and dairy C medium-small), was investigated using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. This research aimed to provide insights into the dynamics of microbial consortia involved in various cheesemaking steps.Results and discussionAll samples, except for raw buffalo milk, exhibited a core microbiome predominantly composed of Streptococcus spp. and Lactobacillus spp., albeit with different ratios between the two genera across the two MBC producers. Notably, the microbiota of the brine from both dairies, analyzed using 16S amplicon sequencing for the first time, was dominated by the Lactobacillus and Streptococcus genera, while only dairy C showed the presence of minor genera such as Pediococcus and Lentilactobacillus. Intriguingly, the final mozzarella samples from both producers displayed an inversion in the dominance of Lactobacillus spp. over Streptococcus spp. in the microbiota compared to curd samples, possibly attributable to the alleviation of thermal stress following the curd stretching step. In conclusion, the different samples from the two production facilities did not exhibit significant differences in terms of the species involved in MBC cheesemaking. This finding confirms that the key role in the MBC cheesemaking process lies with a small-sized microbiome primarily composed of Streptococcus and Lactobacillus spp.

Explainable artificial intelligence and microbiome data for food geographical origin: the Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO Case of Study

“…The cheese-making process of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana is a combination of high-quality ingredients and specific procedures, with particular attention to the crucial role played by natural whey containing thermophilic lactic bacteria. The presence of thermophilic lactic bacteria is interesting because they survive at high temperatures during the processing, thus contributing to the uniqueness of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana (Levante et al, 2023 ). The ecological complexity of these thermophilic lactic bacteria is an aspect that can be studied in detail to better understand the fermentation process and the production of this traditional cheese.…”

Microbial Community Profiling from Natural Whey Starter to Mozzarella among Different Artisanal Dairy Factories in Apulia Region (Italy)

“…Nonetheless, the considered sample set was in line with the experimental size reported in analog publications [9,10,12], in which a few tens of different matrices (milk, starters, dairy finite products) were processed. However, results from microbiological studies are hardly comparable among each other, given the different adopted experimental techniques, computational methods for species detection, classification and quantification, study design and sample size, intrinsic properties of raw milk (e.g., buffalo's or cow's milk, farming modality, etc.…”

“…Together with L. delbrueckii and Streptococcus thermophilus, L. helveticus are common NWS components for various types of mozzarella [7][8][9]11,12]. Genus Streptococcus, frequently found as the key regulator of acidification [8][9][10], is also a relevant component within one of the investigated NWCs (used in Factory 3).…”

“…Lactobacillus spp. and Streptococcus thermophilus were confirmed to be the main components of natural whey starters [12].…”