Accumulation of biogenic amines in fermented foods in relation
to the microbial population dynamics and the technological
conditions
Antimicrobial effects of essential oils and aroma compounds
Microbiology of fermented foods (cheese, sourdough, dry
sausages)
Predictive microbiology applicatio in foods
Fishery product microbiology
Biogenic amines in fermented foods: the presence of these toxic
substances produced by microbial metabolism has been evaluated in
various food in relation to the factors influencing their
accumulation. In particular, the content of biogenic amines in
cheese, dry fermented sausages and wine has been considered. In
vitro studies allowed to verify the effect od several
chemico-physical variables on the aminobiogenetic potential of
strains of Oenococcus oeni and Enterococcus faecalis. Recently, an
experimental protocol for the use of a molecular probe to verify
the presence and quantify the expression of the tdh gene (tyrosine
decarboxylase) has been set up and applied to foods (dry
sausages)
The antimicrobial effects of aroma compounds (essential oils or
specific molecole) have been studied in vitro to evaluate their
bioactivity and mechanisms of action as well as the possibility to
use such substances to prolong the shelf life of food products. In
particular aldehydes originated from the lipoxygenase pathway
(hexenal, (E)-2-hexenal) and citrus molecules and essential oils
have been considered. The in vitro studies have been followed by
industrial application on fruit based foods (fruit salads and
beverages) with particular attention to the microbial stability and
safety of foods and to the organolectic compatibility of the aroma
compounds.
Microbiology of fermented foods: The compositions of different
microbiota of several fermented foods and their effects on the
fermentative and ripening processes have been studied. The studies
have been carried out on several matrices (dry sausages, cheese,
sourdough) and were directed towards the evaluation of the
development of the microbial populations during fermentations as
well as to the characterization of specific characteristics of
defined components of the populations in relation to technological
or safety features (production of toxic substances, antibiotic
resistance, peptidase activity, aroma production, etc.)
Mathematical and statistical instruments for the exploitation
and interpretation of microbiological data. The application to real
systems of the classical tools of predictive microbiology has been
evaluated and potential instruments have been exploited. In
particular several classical primary and secondary predictive
models have been tested for the study of microbial characteristics
in vivo and in vitro, as well as probabilistic model, such as the
logit equation. Moreover the possibility to apply techniques, such
as classification tree, to the exploitation of data obtained with
molecular techniques has been investigated
Microbiology of fishery products: several fishery products
(including mollusks and fishes) have been characterized for their
microbiological and compositional (presence of toxic substances,
metals and components with nutritional interest) features in
relation to the characteristics of the seawater and storage
