Micobiota terroir em Queijo Minas Artesanal da microrregião do Serro: segurança e qualidade

Abstract

Artisanal cheeses are recognized for their socioeconomic importance in different countries. In Brazil, the State of Minas Gerais is recognized as the country's largest producer. This region comprises some microregions producing the well-known Queijo Minas Artesanais (QMA): Araxá, Campo das Vertentes, Canastra, Cerrado and Serro. They are produced (without controlled conditions) from raw cow's milk and natural whey cultures as beginners (native micro-organisms), generating a product of unique flavor due to the particularities of its terroir. As is known, the representatives of its terroir microbiota are associated with the production of certain compounds that boost the maturation process, developing the organoleptic characteristics that will determine the taste and quality of this cheese. This microbiota encompasses a complex ecosystem that will determine the typicity of this cheese. In view of the lack of knowledge about the biodiversity found in these products and the lack of understanding of the changes that these microbial groups suffer during the year, this work aimed to determine the mycobiota terroir (yeasts and filamentous fungi) of the environment of the maturation chambers and the QMA in 3 properties of the Serro-MG microregion, as well as to evaluate their physicochemical characteristics. The identification of the fungi was given by the analysis of the protein profile by MALDI-TOF MS and phenotypic identification. In the environment of maturation was identified the yeast Trichosporon japonicum predominantly. However, the filamentous fungi prevailed in the genus Penicillium, Chaetomium, Aspergillus, Scopulariopsis, Fusarium and Cladosporium cladosporioides Complex. In the QMA, only beneficial yeasts that contribute to the sensorial characteristics of the cheese were identified: Candida zeylanoides, Debaryomyces hansenii, Kluyveromyces lactis and Yarrowia lipolytica. The genus of isolated filament fungi were: Penicillium, Aspergillus, Cladosporium cladosporioides complex, Scopulariopsis, Geotrichum and Alternaria. Among the species isolated, only Geotrichum candidum can be considered beneficial, contributing with the organoleptic characteristics of the product. In the physical-chemical parameters, the percentage of lactic acid (acidity) was the only one that presented significant statistical differences. With this study it was possible to identify which species are related to the development of sensorial characteristics and also contaminating and possibly toxigenic species. The description of the mycobiota terroir was important for the evaluation of the safety and quality of the QMA.