FDF-DB: A Database of Traditional Fermented Dairy Foods and Their Associated Microbiota

Abstract

Background: Fermented foods are attracting increasing interest due to their nutritional and health benefits, including a positive impact on gut microbiota exerted by their associated microbes. However, information relative to traditional fermented dairy products, along with their autochthonous microbiota, is still fragmented and poorly standardized. Therefore, our aim was to collect and aggregate data useful for obtaining a comprehensive overview translated in a classical database interface that can be easily handled by users. Methods: a preliminary inventory was built up by systematically collecting data from publicly available resources for the creation of a list of traditional dairy foods produced worldwide, including additional metadata useful for stratifying, and collapsing subgroups. Results: we developed the Fermented Dairy Food Database (FDF-DB), a feasible resource comprising 1852 traditional dairy foods (cheeses, fermented milks, and yogurt) for which microbial content and other associated metadata such as geographical indication label, country/region of origin, technological aspects were gathered. Conclusions: FDF-DB is a useful and user-friendly resource where taxonomic information and processing production details converge. This resource will be of great aid for researchers, food industries, stakeholders and any user interested in the identification of technological and microbiological features characterizing traditional fermented dairy products.

Traditional Fermented Dairy Products in Southern Mediterranean Countries: From Tradition to Innovation

“…Traditional fermented milk products are known for their peculiar organoleptic features, nutritional value, and therapeutic properties [6][7][8]. In the MENA region, there is a wide variety of artisanal dairy products, and their denomination and manufacturing processes differ between regions [9].…”

Foodborne Microbial Communities as Potential Reservoirs of Antimicrobial Resistance Genes for Pathogens: A Critical Review of the Recent Literature

“…Among foods, dairy products represent one of the principal sources of foodborne microbes ingested upon consumption due to their high content of live bacteria and yeast. The autochthonous microbiota associated with traditional fermented foods is a consortium of microbial strains of environmental origin characterized by high biodiversity [ 7 ], which reflects into a broad spectrum of metabolic pathways leading to the production of mostly volatile compounds conferring unique sensorial and organoleptic features to the final products [ 8 , 9 ]. Food fermentation can also be performed using commercial starters containing a few selected and well-characterized collection strains, but the great majority of food producers in all countries employ traditional production protocols that exploit the distinctive features of uncharacterized microbial consortia pre-existing in the raw materials and restricted to specific geographical environments to confer uniqueness to their products.…”