Queijo Minas artesanal do serro de casca florida: micobiota e caracterização físico-química

Abstract

The Minas Artisanal Cheese (QMA) is associated with the food culture and the socio-historical structures of the region where it is produced. It is considered an intangible heritage of the state of Minas Gerais and Brazil and has Geographical Indication (GI) certification, two important recognition tools that attest to its collective relevance from a social and economic point of view. For being a product made with raw material without a heat treatment, with the use of natural endogenous yeast (pingo), variations in the microbial community, physical-chemical composition and sensory attributes may occur, these being factors that will configure the authenticity of these cheese products. Recently, through Resolution Nº 42/2022 (SEAPA), the Minas Artisanal Cheese from Casca Florida (QMACF) was formalized, recognized as a variety of QMA that contains the presence and dominance visually verified of filamentous fungi. Thus, the present study aimed to isolate and identify the mycobiota of Minas Artisanal Cheese from Casca Florida produced in the Serro/MG region and to evaluate its physicochemical properties. Samples were collected after 25 days of maturation, from 4 properties, located in different counties of the Serro microregion. The identification of the mycobiota was through analysis in MALDI-TOF MS equipment and morphological characterization, and the physical-chemical analyzes according to AOAC methods. As for the physical-chemical parameters, all of them varied statistically between the samples, which naturally occurs due to artisanal production, racial miscegenation and animal feeding, building the typicality of the cheeses. The mycobiota identified in the study is composed of Geotrichum candidum, Candida catenulata, Candida palmioleophila, Candida intermedia, Debaryomyces hansenii, Kodamaea ohmeri, Kluyveromyces lactis, Pichia manshurica, Pichia kudriavzevii, Trichosporon japonicum, Torulaspora delbrueckii, Yarrowia lipolytica, Cladosporium sp., Fusarium oxysporium, F. solanii, Penicillium waksmanii Zalessky e P. corylophilum. Varied species capable of producing a diversity of metabolites that positively influence the taste, aroma and texture, being essential for the quality and authenticity of each product.