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Review
. 2021 Feb 25;9(3):480.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9030480.

Traditional Bulgarian Dairy Products: Ethnic Foods with Health Benefits

Penka Petrova  1 , Ivan Ivanov  1 , Lidia Tsigoriyna  2 , Nadezhda Valcheva  2 , Evgenia Vasileva  2 , Tsvetomila Parvanova-Mancheva  2 , Alexander Arsov  1 , Kaloyan Petrov  2
Affiliations
Review

Traditional Bulgarian Dairy Products: Ethnic Foods with Health Benefits

Penka Petrova et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

The reported health effects of fermented dairy foods, which are traditionally manufactured in Bulgaria, are connected with their microbial biodiversity. The screening and development of probiotic starters for dairy products with unique properties are based exclusively on the isolation and characterization of lactic acid bacterial (LAB) strains. This study aims to systematically describe the LAB microbial content of artisanal products such as Bulgarian-type yoghurt, white brined cheese, kashkaval, koumiss, kefir, katak, and the Rhodope's brano mliako. The original technologies for their preparation preserve the valuable microbial content and improve their nutritional and probiotic qualities. This review emphasises the features of LAB starters and the autochthonous microflora, the biochemistry of dairy food production, and the approaches for achieving the fortification of the foods with prebiotics, bioactive peptides (ACE2-inhibitors, bacteriocins, cyclic peptides with antimicrobial activity), immunomodulatory exopolysaccharides, and other metabolites (indol-3-propionic acid, free amino acids, antioxidants, prebiotics) with reported beneficial effects on human health. The link between the microbial content of dairy foods and the healthy human microbiome is highlighted.

Keywords: LAB; bioactive peptides; kashkaval; katak; kefir; koumiss; probiotics; white brined cheese; yoghurt.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data, or in the writing of the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Technological steps of preparation of traditional Bulgarian dairy products.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic presentation of lactose transport, metabolization routes and formation of volatile compounds by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in dairy foods, according to Rul (2017), and Solopova et al. (2012) [2,42]. Designations: 1, tagatose 6-phosphate pathway; 2, glycolysis; 3, Leloir pathway; 4, acetolactate synthase; 5, oxidative decarboxylation; 6, acetolactate decarboxylase; 7, diacetyl reductase; 8, pyruvate decarboxylase; 9, acetoin dehydrogenase; 10, threonine aldolase; 11, threonine deaminase; 12, acetolactate synthase; 13, oxidative decarboxylation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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