A molecular genetic approach for traceability of the source milk in cheese

The valorisation of typical cheeses meets the needs of preserving the local country culture and tradition as well of guaranteeing consumer health by the control of all the steps of production (herd, milk quality, cheese making technology). Among the variability factors significantly affecting cheese peculiarity, biodiversity plays an important role (Gandini et al., 1996; Pieragostini et al., 2002). The possibility of identifying or tracing the primary product, mainly the origin breed, by the use of biologic markers, is an important goal for the safeguard and valorisation of national goat cheese. In this field great interest is paid to milk protein genetic polymorphism. A first study was carried out in order to investigate the possibility of tracing the source milk in dairy products. In particular, the use of molecular techniques for the detection of casein polymorphisms........