Morphological, Molecular, and Mycotoxigenic Identification of Dominant Filamentous Fungi from Moldy Civil Cheese

Moldy Civil is a mold-ripened variety of cheese produced mainly in eastern Turkey. This cheese is produced with Civil cheese and whey curd cheese (Lor). Civil cheese has had a geographical presence since 2009 and is manufactured with skim milk. In the production of Moldy Civil cheese, Civil cheese or a mixture of Civil and Lor cheese is pressed into goat skins or plastic bags and ripened for 3 months or longer. During the ripening period, natural contaminating molds grow on the surface of and inside the cheese. In this study, 186 mold strains were isolated from 41 samples of Moldy Civil cheese, and 165 of these strains were identified as Penicillium roqueforti. Identification and mycotoxicologic analyses were conducted using morphotypic and molecular methods. PCR amplicons of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS4 region were subjected to sequence analysis. This research is the first using molecular methods on Moldy Civil cheese. Mycotoxicologic analyses were conducted using thin-layer chromatography, and random amplified polymorphic DNA genotypes were determined using the ari1 primer. Of 165 isolates, only 28 produced no penicillic acid, P. roqueforti toxin, or roquefortine.