FATTY-ACID PROFILING - A FEASIBLE TYPING SYSTEM TO TRACE YEAST CONTAMINATION IN WINE BOTTLING PLANTS

The long-chain fatty acid composition of yeast strains was determined for several species associated with the wine industry. The Saccharomyc es cerevisiae, Zygosaccharomyces bailii, Saccharomycodes ludwigii, Sch izosaccharomyces pombe, Brettanomyces/Dekkeira spp., Pichia anomala, P ichia membranaefaciens and Lodderomyces elongisporus species presented distinct fatty acid profiles after multivariate statistical analysis. The Zygosaccharomyces rouxii species showed profiles similar to Zygos accharomyces bailii. The use of fatty acid profiling in wine bottling plants and wines makes it possible to trace the origin of the strains responsible for spoiling the final product. In one case the origin was found at the outlet of the finishing filter and identified as Zygosac charomyces bailii. In the other case the source of contamination was d iscovered in the heads of the filling machine and assigned to the Pich ia membranaefaciens species. The results point out the discriminating power and the industrial applicability of the technique described in t his work to analyse yeast long-chain fatty acid compositions. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.