Molecular methods for studying the microbial biodiversity of natural whey starters used in production of Campania buffalo milk Mozzarella cheese.

摘要

The natural whey starter is a complex microbiological ecosystem which performs a key role in the production of Campania buffalo milk Mozzarella, a traditional cheese with DOP (Protected Denomination of Origin) status. This reserve of microbial 'germplasm' must be characterized and protected in the interests of product authenticity and consumer safety. Experiments have shown that DNA fingerprinting, the polymerase chain reaction technique and ribotyping can be used for precise differentiation of microorganism species and strains for legal, taxonomic or ecological purposes. These are regarded as simple, rapid and reliable methods.