Presence and dietary exposure assessment of natamycin from cheese

Natamycin is a natural antimicrobial peptide produced by strains of Streptomyces natelensis. Antimicrobial agents are widely used to reduce and prevent growth of pathogenic and spoilage-causing microorganisms, thereby extend to shelf life of dairy products. In the field of cheese preservation, natamycin is often applied to the surface of cheese. Natamycin is commonly used to control mold and inhibit yeast growth. It has been approved as a food additive by the Turkish Food Codex and is accepted as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. According to the Turkish Food Codex the regulation on food additives (2023), natamycin can be used for the surface treatment of semi-hard and semi-soft cheeses with a maximum concentration of 1 mg/dm2 and 5 mm outside the surface. From a toxicological perspective, the effects observed in animals following natamycin ingestion are reduced food intake, reduced rates of weight gain, gastrointestinal irritation, and diarrhea. Based on toxicological studies JECFA assigned an ADI value for natamycin as 0.3 mg/kg body weight/day In this thesis it was aimed to evaluate NA presence in cheese samples collected from Adana city in Türkiye. Moreover, dietary exposure analysis was provided using the surveillance data. As a result of the study 42.5% of the cheese samples did not comply with the Turkish Food Codex. Also EDI value was determined as 0.001 mg/kg bw/day which indicates no health risk for natamycin due to the cheese consumption for adults.