Proteomics in fungal identification improving food processing & safety

The identification, control and or standardization of food product microflora is mandatory to preserve the productions safety and thus the consumers health. In this context, the research project tried to fill some gaps of knowledge with the attempt to limit the mycotoxigenic risk in the food product chains. Studing the composition and dynamic of fungal mycroflora present on the surface of cured meat products and in the air production environments was possible taking into account the influence of some process parameters in the quality and safety of processed foods. The development of a MALDI TOF MS method was tested for the identification of Penicilium at species level for future direct screening perspectives of the fungal and bacterial flora present on food products. The comparison and integration of different techniques as morphological, molecular and mass spectral analysis, was studied for the identification of Penicillium species in food products. A evaluation of selected yeasts, isolated from food, was investigated for the competition with P. nordicum and to inhibit OTA accumulation in the perspective of their use as surface starter biocontrol agents.