Alteration of raw-milk cheese by Pseudomonas spp.: monitoring the sources of contamination using fluorescence spectroscopy and metabolic profiling

Thirty Pseudomonas spp. strains isolated from milk, water, cheese centre and cheese surface in two traditional workshops manufacturing raw milk St. Nectaire cheese were characterised by fluorescence spectroscopy and Biolog metabolic profiling. Factorial discriminant analysis (FDA) of the two data sets revealed clear linkages between groups of isolates. In the first workshop, milk could be incriminated as the sole source of cheese contamination. In the second one, milk and cheese centre isolates were found similar but surface cheese contaminants could be linked to a secondary contamination originating from water. Thus, it is possible to characterise, differentiate and trace Pseudomonas spp. strains using the fluorescence and metabolic profiling techniques. In addition, the two data sets were found highly correlated by canonical correlation analysis (CCA). Fluorescence spectroscopy however showed several advantages because of its low cost and processing speed.