Antifungal Microbial Agents for Food Biopreservation—A Review
Open accessAbstract
Food spoilage is a major issue for the food industry, leading to food waste, substantial economic losses for manufacturers and consumers, and a negative impact on brand names. Among causes, fungal contamination can be encountered at various stages of the food chain (e.g., post-harvest, during processing or storage). Fungal development leads to food sensory defects varying from visual deterioration to noticeable odor, flavor, or texture changes but can also have negative health impacts via mycotoxin production by some molds. In order to avoid microbial spoilage and thus extend product shelf life, different treatments—including fungicides and chemical preservatives—are used. In parallel, public authorities encourage the food industry to limit the use of these chemical compounds and develop natural methods for food preservation. This is accompanied by a strong societal demand for ‘clean label’ food products, as consumers are looking for more natural, less severely processed and safer products. In this context, microbial agents corresponding to bioprotective cultures, fermentates, culture-free supernatant or purified molecules, exhibiting antifungal activities represent a growing interest as an alternative to chemical preservation. This review presents the main fungal spoilers encountered in food products, the antifungal microorganisms tested for food bioprotection, and their mechanisms of action. A focus is made in particular on the recent in situ studies and the constraints associated with the use of antifungal microbial agents for food biopreservation.
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Filamentous fungi belonging to the genera Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium can grow on the cheese surface and produce mycotoxins that are highly toxic.
“Filamentous fungi belonging to the genera Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium can grow on the cheese surface and produce mycotoxins that are highly toxic [133,138,150,156,157,158].”
From Lactic Acid Bacteria in Raw-Milk Cheeses: From Starter Cultures to Probiotic Functions (2022) · cites this paper as [150]
Section 2.1 (page not available) identifies Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium as genera containing mycotoxin-producing species and says some mycotoxins are toxic at low concentrations. Section 3.2.5 mentions fungi on surface-ripened cheese, but does not establish that all three named genera grow on cheese surfaces and produce mycotoxins there. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredDifferent strains of L. plantarum and its metabolites have been tested in a variety of foods, where they were able to inhibit various fungal species belonging to the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, Rhizopus, and Rhodotorula.
“Different strains of L. plantarum and its metabolites have been tested in a variety of foods, where they were able to inhibit various fungal species belonging to the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, Rhizopus, and Rhodotorula [150,153].”
From Lactic Acid Bacteria in Raw-Milk Cheeses: From Starter Cultures to Probiotic Functions (2022) · cites this paper as [150]
Fungal spoilage causes visible or invisible sensory defects in cheese, such as visible growth of the fungus on the surface, and production of metabolites that lead to noticeable and unpleasant changes in aroma, flavor, and texture, thus resulting in a loss of product quality.
“Fungal spoilage causes visible or invisible sensory defects in cheese, such as the visible growth of the fungus on the surface, and the production of metabolites that lead to noticeable and unpleasant changes in aroma, flavor, and texture, thus resulting in a loss of product quality [130,135,148,149,150].”
From Lactic Acid Bacteria in Raw-Milk Cheeses: From Starter Cultures to Probiotic Functions (2022) · cites this paper as [150]
The antifungal activity of the genus Lactobacillus has been extensively studied, with particular emphasis on the species L. plantarum.
“The antifungal activity of the genus Lactobacillus has been extensively studied, with particular emphasis on the species L. plantarum [133,150].”
From Lactic Acid Bacteria in Raw-Milk Cheeses: From Starter Cultures to Probiotic Functions (2022) · cites this paper as [150]
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References 223 · Cited by 349
Research works printed but not linked: 5
- [10]Fellows P.J. Food Processing Technology: Principles and Practice 3rd ed. Woodhead Publishing Oxford, UK Boca Raton, FL, USA 2009 978-1-84569-216-2
- [12]Stark J. Tan H.S. Natamycin Food Preservatives Springer New York, NY, USA 2003 179 195
- [27]Elsser-Gravesen D. Elsser-Gravesen A. Biopreservatives Biotechnology of Food and Feed Additives Zorn H. Czermak P. Springer Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany 2013 Volume 143 29 49 978-3-662-43760-5
- [168]Cray J.A. Bhaganna P. Singhal R.S. Patil S.V. Saha D. Chakraborty R Timson D.J. Hallsworth J.E. Modern fungicides and antifungal compounds VII Proceedings of the 17th International Reinhardsbrunn Symposium, April 21–25, 2013, Friedrichroda, Germany DPG Spectrum Phytomedizin DPG-Verl Braunschweig, Germany 2014 978-3-941261-13-6
- [217]Martín J.F. Coton M. Blue cheese Fermented Foods in Health and Disease Prevention Elsevier Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2017 275 303 978-0-12-802309-9
- Authors
- Leyva Salas, M., Mounier, J., Valence, F., Coton, M., Thierry, A., & Coton, E.
- Affiliations
- Laboratoire Universitaire de Biodiversité et Ecologie Microbienne (LUBEM EA3882), Université de Brest, Technopole Brest-Iroise, 29280 Plouzané, France
- Université de Bretagne Occidentale (FR)
- Institut Agro Rennes-Angers (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Coton, Emmanuel
- Venue
- Microorganisms
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2017-07-08
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 37
- ISSN
- 2076-2607 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5620628
- OpenAlex
- W2731989602
- Cited by
- 349
- References
- 223
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 49 · 2023: 44 · 2022: 54 · 2021: 47 · 2020: 45 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 2.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Microorganisms (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Essential Oils and Antimicrobial Activity
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Mycotoxins in Agriculture and Food
- Keywords
- food biopreservation, food spoilage, fungal spoilage, mycotoxins, bioprotective cultures, natural preservatives, clean-label food, shelf life extension
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