A fiber-optic genosensor for Brettanomyces detection

Yeast is essential in the production of fermented foods, but can also cause food spoilage in poor fermentation management or post-process contamination. That most dreaded by winemakers is the non-pathogenic yeast B. bruxellensis which leads to the development of unpleasant aromas. Currently, this is detected in wine using both traditional and molecular techniques (delaherche et al., 2004). The development of molecular methods has improved the sensitivity and specificity of yeast identification tests. Recently, optical fibers have become an important part of sensor technology in clinical, pharmaceutical and industrial applications (Espinosa et al., 2007)