Metagenomic profiles of different types of Italian high-moisture Mozzarella cheese

• Published in: Food microbiology Vol. 79; pp. 123 - 131
• Main Authors: Marino, Marilena, Dubsky de Wittenau, Giorgia, Saccà, Elena, Cattonaro, Federica, Spadotto, Alessandro, Innocente, Nadia, Radovic, Slobodanka, Piasentier, Edi, Marroni, Fabio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2019
• Subjects: buffalo milk; cluster analysis; High-moisture Mozzarella cheese; high-throughput nucleotide sequencing; lactic acid bacteria; Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus; Lactobacillus helveticus; markets; Metagenomics; Microbiota; milk; mozzarella cheese; Next generation sequencing; Psychrotrophs; Streptococcus thermophilus; temperature; whey; Psychrotrophs; Metagenomics; Microbiota; High-moisture Mozzarella cheese; Next generation sequencing
• ISSN: 0740-0020; 1095-9998; 1095-9998
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2018.12.007

The microbiota of different types of Italian high-moisture Mozzarella cheese produced using cow or buffalo milk, acidified with natural or selected cultures, and sampled at the dairy or at the mass market, was evaluated using a Next Generation Sequencing approach, in order to identify possible drivers of the bacterial diversity. Cow Mozzarella and buffalo Mozzarella acidified with commercial cultures were dominated by Streptococcus thermophilus, while buffalo samples acidified with natural whey cultures showed similar prevalence of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, L. helveticus and S. thermophilus. Moreover, several species of non-starter lactic acid bacteria were frequently detected. The diversity in cow Mozzarella microbiota was much higher than that of water buffalo samples. Cluster analysis clearly separated cow's cheeses from buffalo's ones, the former having a higher prevalence of psychrophilic taxa, and the latter of Lactobacillus and Streptococcus. A higher prevalence of psychrophilic species and potential spoilers was observed in samples collected at the mass retail, suggesting that longer exposures to cooling temperatures and longer production-to-consumption times could significantly affect microbiota diversity. Our results could help in detecting some kind of thermal abuse during the production or storage of mozzarella cheese. •Metagenomics clearly allows to distinguish cow Mozzarella from buffalo Mozzarella.•Cow Mozzarella show a higher bacterial diversity.•Cow Mozzarella show a large presence of psychrophilic species.•Sampling point (local or mass retail) is a possible driver of bacteria diversity.