title: Antimicrobial efficacy of pepsin-digested bovine lactoferrin on spoilage bacteria contaminating traditional Mozzarella cheese.
abstract: The aim of this work was to check the efficacy of bovine lactoferrin (BLF) and its pepsin-digested hydrolysate (LFH) to control spoilage bacteria contaminating the governing liquid of high moisture (HM) Mozzarella cheese during cold storage. These natural substances resulted effective when tested in vitro against five potential spoilage bacteria contaminating cold-stored HM Mozzarella cheese. Among six LFH fractions, only the fraction containing lactoferricins, mainly represented by LfcinB₁₇₋₄₂, resulted effective against Escherichia coli K12 at the same extent of the whole pepsin-digested hydrolysate. LFH tested throughout seven days for its antimicrobial activity against the main bacterial groups growing in cold-stored commercial HM Mozzarella cheese samples delayed significantly the growth of pseudomonads and coliforms in comparison with the un-treated samples. This is the first report providing a direct evidence of the ability of LFH to inhibit the growth of cheese spoilage bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Sciences of Food Production, National Research Council of Italy, Via G. Amendola 122/o, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quintieri
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Caputo
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Monaci
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Deserio
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morea
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baruzzi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D002417:Cattle; D002611:Cheese / Q000382:microbiology*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D007781:Lactoferrin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010434:Pepsin A / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; C082171:lactoferricin B; D007781:Lactoferrin; D010434:Pepsin A