In this study, the effect of a commercial P. nalgiovense as
a protective culture to avoid growth of toxigenic moulds in
commercial dry-fermented sausages “salchichón”was evaluated. In
addition, the ability of specific qPCR methods to study the
implantation of P. nalgiovense and presence of toxigenic moulds in
these meat products as well as the presence of corresponding
mycotoxin was also tested. At first, the effectiveness of the
protective P. nalgiovense was evaluated in a controlled model
system with slices of dry-fermented sausage inoculated together
with an OTA-producing P. verrucosum strain. Fungal load was estimated
by counting plate and by qPCR based on the b-tubulin gene
being the last method appropriated since both results were nearly
similar. From results, it is observed that both non-toxigenic and
toxigenic strains grew (by plate counting and by qPCR) in a similar
way when they were inoculated separately. However, when these
strains were inoculated simultaneously a significant higher growth
of P. nalgiovense was observed (P 0.05). This highlights that in
a hypothetical interaction between the protective P. nalgiovense
strain and the OTA-producing P. verrucosum strain on dryfermented
sausages, the protective culture would have greater
growth than the toxigenic strain in the conditions tested. These
results are of great importance due to it should be keep in mind that
individual moulds do not grow as isolated entities on dryfermented
sausages in production facilities but rather grow in
competition with each other and with yeasts and bacteria. In this
sense, the fact of the protective non-toxigenic mould grows better
than the toxigenic one in environmental conditions similar to those
found in the food industry is a basic step to use this strain as
protective fungal culture. In addition, it should be noted that the
toxigenic strain growth is lower than the safety level of toxigenic
moulds with minimal risk ofmycotoxins accumulation proposed by
Rodríguez, Rodríguez, Martín, Núñez, and Córdoba (2012)