FILAMENTOUS MICROMYCETES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SPOILAGE OF SELECTED VEGETABLES IN THE FOOD RETAIL CHAIN

Abstract

Vegetables represent a very important part of the diet. However, one of the problems of the vegetable market is its shelf life and related safety. A significant reason for vegetable losses in the retail network is the development of microorganisms, mainly micromycetes. They can significantly affect the quality of products, and due to the production of toxic metabolites, they also carry a toxicological risk. The aim of our study was to detect fungi that cause damage to selected types of vegetables in the food retail chains in Slovakia and are therefore directly responsible for product losses. Totally 44 samples of root, cabbage, and fruiting vegetables were mycologically analysed. Micromycetes, causing visible damage to the analysed vegetable samples, were inoculated to M137, M096, or M696 media from HiMedia and cultivated for 7 days at 25±1 °C. Important isolates were subjected to toxicological analysis by the thin-layer chromatography. The results show that the most common cause of carrot spoilage is the genus Berkeleyomyces. In the case of parsley, it was yeast Geotrichum candidum. Alternaria spp. occurred most often in the case of broccoli and cauliflower. Tomatoes were the most frequently spoiled by representatives of the genus Penicillium, or Botrytis cinerea and Cladosporium, cucumbers by Cladosporium and Alternaria species, similar to peppers, and the main spoiler of eggplants was Botrytis cinerea. Alternaria spp. showed a relatively high ability to produce altenuene, alternariol, and alternariol monomethyl ether. Penicillium expansum from carrots produced roquefortine C, patulin, and citrinin, and Penicillium paneum from tomatoes synthesized roquefortine C.