Abstract:
The aim of this study was to isolate, identify and control spoilage moulds in cured vanilla beans
produced in Tanzania. The isolates were characterized by DNA sequencing of the internal
transcribed spacer (ITS) region. The result showed that vanilla beans were contaminated with
Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus tubingensis, Aspergillus aculeatus, Byssochlamys spectabilis
(Amanorph Paecilomyces variotii) and Penicillium polonicum. Sterile green vanilla beans were
inoculated with the spores of A. tubingensis, A. aculeatus and B. spectabilis (Amanorph Paec.
variotii), incubated overnight and disinfected by ethanol, followed by blanching and storage at
tropical ambient temperature. The combination of blanching (65oC/3 min) and disinfection by
ethanol (50% and 70%) completely inhibited mould growth and, therefore, could potentially be
used to control spoilage by moulds and improve the quality of cured vanilla beans. |
