MOLD-FERMENTED FOODS - RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

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. PeniciIlium roqueforti is used for blue cheese, P. camemberti 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 can 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. roqueforti and P. camemberti are not available, but could be developed by mutation. From P. nalgiovense nontoxic strains with desirable technological properties have been selected, and could be improved by genetechnological modification. © 1990, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.