Role of Chrysonilia sitophila in the quality of cork stoppers for sealing wine bottles

The contribution of Chrysonilia sitophila in cork stopper manufacture was s tudied and a simulation of the industrial processing of cork stoppers was p erformed. Stoppers cut from slabs where mold development was inhibited were compared with others cut from slabs colonized by C. sitophila alone or wit h several molds, in terms of physical properties and chemical taints. C. si tophila does not produce 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, guaiacol, or 1-octene-3-ol on cork slabs incubated for 66 days. Since some chlorophenol-related compo unds contaminate cork slabs during the production processes, metabolic test s were performed to investigate the capability of molds to produce 2,4,6-tr ichloroanisole by methylation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol. Degradation of 2,4, 6-trichlorophenol by C. sitophila resulted in a very high level of degradat ion without production of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole. C. sitophila restricted g rowth of other molds on maturing slabs for at least 30 days. These results show that C. sitophila can be exploited by industrial producers of cork sto ppers since it is able to inhibit the development of other molds and it doe s not produce the compounds responsible for 'cork-taint', even in the prese nce of chlorophenols.