Seasonal variation in the Canastra cheese mycobiota. Seasonal variation in the Canastra cheese mycobiota

Canastra cheese is the most well-known artisanal cheese produced in Brazil. Although its production includes a step to remove fungi from the cheese surface, in recent years some cheesemakers have preserved the autochthonous fungi grown during ripening due to an interest in the sensory characteristics attributed to these microorganisms. Notably, a recent new regulation about the conditions for artisanal cheese ripening was approved, removing previous obstacles for allowing the surface fungi to persist and opening new market opportunities for the sector. In this work, the mycobiota of artisanal cheeses produced in the Canastra region was characterized based on ITS marker gene analysis. A total of 96 artisanal cheeses from 16 different farms across 9 cities were collected during two different periods (dry and wet seasons). The Canastra cheese mycobiota was significantly impacted by the season, the city of production and the farm but altitude did not affect the fungal community of the cheeses analysed. Debaryomyces, Kluyveromyces, Torulaspora and Trichosporon were the most prevalent genera across all of the farms evaluated. Among filamentous fungi, Fusarium, Acremonium and Aspergillus were most abundant. These results provide new insights into the importance of the presence of fungi in artisanal cheese produced in the Canastra region, while also contributing to the exploration of new markets and to the establishment of measures to improve the quality and safety of artisanal surface mould-ripened cheeses.