PhD Student: Paolo D’Incecco
Tutor: Luisa Pellegrino (DeFENS), Franco Faoro (DiSAA)
Dean: Francesco Bonomi
Research area: Food Science and Nutrition
PhD title achieved on: 4th April 2017
Research topic
Chemical, biochemical, microbiological, and technological aspects of emerging cheese defects
Project Synopsis
The PhD project focuses on the late blowing defect in Grana Padano cheese and the main responsible agent Clostridium tyrobutyricum. Chemical, microbiological, immunochemical and ultrastructural aspects were investigated to study the nature of interactions among fat globules promoting their clustering and agglutination of Cl. tyrobutyricum during the natural creaming of raw milk prior to cheese making. Cheese makings using intentionally contaminated milk were performed at both laboratory and industrial scale to study the behaviour of Cl. tyrobutyricum in terms of survival of vegetative cells, metabolic pathways and induction of sporulation. Understanding some phenomena taking place in milk during creaming and allowing its natural healing from Cl. tyrobutyricum and the achievement of new details about the behaviour of this spoiling bacterium during cheese manufacturing and ripening were the main aims of this project.
Project keywords
fat globules, cheese microstructure, cheese making, Clostridium tyrobutyricum.
Contacts
Dipartimento di Scienze per gli Alimenti, la Nutrizione e L’Ambiente (DeFENS)
Università degli Studi di Milano
Via Celoria 2, 20133 MILANO
tel. 02 503 16679
E-mail: paolo.dincecco@unimi.it
Collaborations
Dr. Milena Brasca, Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Milano, Italia
Dr. Angelo Stroppa, Consorzio di Tutela del Formaggio Grana Padano DOP, Desenzano del Garda, Italia
Prof. Monica Gatti, Dipartimento di Scienze degli Animali, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italia
Prof. Pier Sandro Cocconcelli, Istituto di Microbiologia, Università Cattolica di Piacenza, Piacenza, Italia
Dr. Katrin Schrader, Department of Safety and Quality of Milk and Fish Products, Max Rubner Institute, Kiel, Germany
Prof. Sally Grass, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Sponsor
Fellowship sponsor: Università degli Studi di Milano
Publications
D’Incecco, P., Gatti, M., Hogenboom, J. A., Bottari, B., Rosi, V., Neviani, E., & Pellegrino, L. (2016). Lysozyme affects the microbial catabolism of free arginine in raw-milk hard cheeses. Food microbiology, 57, 16-22. DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2015.11.020
D’Incecco, P., Limbo, S., Faoro, F., Hogenboom, J., Rosi, V., Morandi, S., & Pellegrino, L. (2016). New insight on crystal and spot development in hard and extra-hard cheeses: Association of spots with incomplete aggregation of curd granules. Journal of dairy science. DOI: 10.3168/jds.2016-11050
Pellegrino, L., Rosi, V., D’Incecco, P., Stroppa, A., & Hogenboom, J. A. (2015). Changes in the soluble nitrogen fraction of milk throughout PDO Grana Padano cheese-making. International Dairy Journal, 47, 128-135. DOI: 10.1016/j.idairyj.2015.03.002
D’Incecco, P., Faoro, F., Silvetti, T., Schrader, K., & Pellegrino, L. (2015). Mechanisms of Clostridium tyrobutyricum removal through natural creaming of milk: A microscopy study. Journal of dairy science, 98 (8), 5164-5172. DOI: 10.3168/jds.2015-9526
Confalonieri, R., Stella, T., Dominoni, P., Frasso, N., Consolati, G., Bertoglio, M., …D’Incecco, P., & Cozzaglio, G. (2014). Impact of Agromanagement Practices on Rice Elongation: Analysis and Modelling. Crop Science, 54 (5), 2294-2302. DOI: 10.2135/cropsci2014.02.0116
Oral presentations at international congresses
“Shedding light on crystals and white spots in cheese” – P. D’Incecco, S. Limbo, F. Faoro, J. Hogenboom, V. Rosi, L. Pellegrino. 3th International Multidisciplinary Microscopy and Microanalysis Congress – InterM – Oludeniz, 2015.
“Lysozyme side effects in Grana Padano PDO cheese: new perspective after 30 years using” – P. D’Incecco, M. Gatti, J.A. Hogenboom, E. Neviani, V. Rosi, M. Santarelli, L. Pellegrino. 9th Cheese Symposium, International Dairy Federation. Cork (IR), 2014.
“The late blowing defect in Grana Padano PDO cheese: effects of milk natural creaming and cheese making conditions”- P. D’Incecco. Dairy Innovation Hub Workshop – University of Queensland – Brisbane – 29 June 2016.
Oral presentations at national Congresses
“Formazioni cristalline in formaggi extra duri: ruolo della tecnologia”. Paolo D‘Incecco. Universo Latte: Giovani Ricercatori e Imprese a Confronto. Piacenza, 17 – 18 marzo 2016.
Poster at national Workshops
“Clostridium tyrobutyricum behaviour during Grana Padano cheese making”. D’Incecco P. XX Workshop on the developments in the Italian PhD Research on Food Science Technology and Biotechnology. University of Perugia, Perugia, 23-25 September 2015.
“The late blowing defect in Grana Padano PDO cheese: effects of milk natural creaming and cheese making conditions”. D’Incecco P. XIX Workshop on the developments in the Italian PhD Research on Food Science Technology and Biotechnology. University of Bari, Bari, 24-26 September 2014.
Others
The research activity has been conducted across different countries. Advanced microscopic techniques have implemented this study and have been used at either the Max-Rubner Institute in Germany (1 month) or the Bio21 Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia (7 months).
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