Determination of coffee origin by using 28S rDNA fingerprinting of fungal communities by PCR-DGGE: Application to the Cameroonian coffee

The new European regulation 178/2002 imposes the determination of the geographical origin in the traceability process of foodstuffs at the moment of commercial transactions. In practice, it is difficult to determine with accuracy the geographical origin of foodstuffs. For this purpose, the total analysis of fungal communities in samples of coffee is used. In the present study the molecular technique using 28S rDNA profiles generated by PCR-DGGE was used in order to detect the variation in fungal community structures of coffee from five different locations in West and Coastal plain in Cameroon and the effect of treatment and coffee species on these fungal profiles. When the 28S rDNA profiles were analyzed by multivariate analysis, distinct microbial communities were detected. The band profiles obtained from different samples of coffee and specific for each location and could be used as a bar code to certify the origin of the coffee. This method is a new traceability tool which provides coffee products with a unique biological bar code and makes it possible to trace back the coffee to their original location.