METHODS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF MOLDS IN FOODS

Molds are ubiquitous microorganisms in nature found on air, soil, water and organic matter. Molds can adversely affect the health of humans and animals by producing toxic metabolites. Molds also cause spoilage of foods which results in economic loss. Identification of molds grown in foods is crucial for the studies on inhibition of mold growth on foods, knowledge of resistant and mycotoxigenic species. Conventional identification procedures are based on the recognition of the colony morphology and microscobic observations. Since traditional identification procedures are time consuming and require specified personnel, there is a need for more rapid and reliable techniques to identify molds. Rapid methods are expensive and need to be standardized with extensive studies due to insufficient databases. Combination of conventional and rapid methods increases the accuracy of the studies. In this review, conventional, molecular, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) methods used to identify molds were investigated