Parmigiano Reggiano Natural Whey Starter Ecology

This project examines the ecological forces shaping microbial communities in Natural Whey Starter (NWS) cultures used for Parmigiano Reggiano production. Twenty-four NWS cultures were collected at six time points over one year to monitor temporal variation in community structure and functional potential. Sequencing data were generated in triplicate for each sample to provide a robust characterization of these open microbial ecosystems. The resulting dataset supports a deeper understanding of the eco-evolutionary dynamics underlying non-standardized starter cultures in dairy fermentations.The project was funded by the Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano.