Co-inoculation of selected Saccharomyces cereviseae and Oenococcus oeni starter cultures may reduce biogenic amines content in regional wines.

Many microorganisms are used as starter cultures in several fermented foods and beverages. In general, the choice of starter cultures is fundamental in order to guarantee the quality of final products. For this reason, the inability to form Biogenic Amine (BA) should be an important criteria in the selection of starter cultures for the management of fermented food and beverages. Inoculation with starter cultures that are unable to produce biogenic amines is a viable option for the control of these compounds in wine (Spano et al., 2010). Malolactic fermentation (MLF) of wine generally starts spontaneously when the population of indigenous Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) reaches a sufficient level. When the conditions of wine are favourable to the development of BA-producing LAB, spontaneous MLF can lead to the accumulation of significant amounts of BA (Lonvaud-Funel, 2001). In contrast, when MLF is performed under controlled conditions after inoculating the wine with a selected strain of Oenococcus oeni unable to form BA, the amounts of BA are markedly reduced (Martin-Alvarez et al. 2006). It seems that co-inoculation of Saccharomyces cereviseae and Oenococcus oeni starter cultures has the potential to curb BA formation even more than conventional inoculation for malolactic fermentation after the completion of alcoholic fermentation. The present work present the application of realible Saccharomyces cereviseae/Oenococcus oeni association starter cultures in order to reduce BA content (mainly putrescine) in regional wine