Detection of Penicillium species in complex food samples using the polymerase chain reaction

Rapid identification of filamentous fungi is becoming increasingly important in food mycology both for monitoring the production process and for the identification of food spoilers. This paper describes the development and trial of two specifie PCR primer sets. A 336 bp fragment from species belonging to Penicillium subgenus Penicillium was amplified by the primers ITS 212d and ITS 549. The other primer set, ITS 183 and ITS 401 specifically identified two species. Penicillium roqueforti and P. carneum, both known as spoilers in the bread industry, by amplification of a 300 bp fragment. The future perspectives of PCR based identification of filamentous fungi in food are discussed.