Mould?fermented foods: Recent developments

Abstract

Mould‐ripened foods are used worldwide by tradition. Especially in Asia a variety of foods are produced applying various fungal genera. In Europe mould‐ripened foods are predominantly cheeses and meats, fermented with Penicillia. Penicillium roquefortii is used for blue cheese, P. camembertii for white cheese, and P. nalgiovense for salami and certain raw hams. It is required that moulds employed for foods must be neither pathogenic nor toxigenic, should improve appearance, flavour as well as stability of the products, and should preferably inhibit undesirable microorganisms. Suitable starter cultures con be developed by selection, mutation or with genetechnological methods. The most difficult demand for the usage of Penicillia is the non‐toxigenicity, as most Penicillium strains produce mycotoxins. At present non‐toxigenic isolates of P. roquefortii and P. camembertii are not available, but could be developed by mutation. From P. nalgiovense non‐toxic strains with desirable technological properties have been selected, and could be improved by genetechnological modification.