The microbial composition of dried fish prepared according to Greenlandic Inuit traditions and industrial counterparts

Aviaja L. Hauptmann*, Petronela Paulová, Josué L. Castro-Mejía, Lars H. Hansen, Thomas Sicheritz-Pontén, Gert Mulvad, Dennis S. Nielsen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)
255 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The practices of preparing traditional foods in the Arctic are rapidly disappearing. Traditional foods of the Arctic represent a rarity among food studies in that they are meat-sourced and prepared in non-industrial settings. These foods, generally consumed without any heating step prior to consumption, harbor an insofar undescribed microbiome. The food-associated microbiomes have implications not only with respect to disease risk, but might also positively influence host health by transferring a yet unknown diversity of live microbes to the human gastrointestinal tract. Here we report the first study of the microbial composition of traditionally dried fish prepared according to Greenlandic traditions and their industrial counterparts. We show that dried capelin prepared according to traditional methods have microbiomes clearly different from industrially prepared capelin, which also have more homogenous microbiomes than traditionally prepared capelin. Interestingly, the locally preferred type of traditionally dried capelin, described to be tastier than other traditionally dried capelin, contains bacteria that potentially confer distinct taste. Finally, we show that dried cod have comparably more homogenous microbiomes when compared to capelin and that in general, the environment of drying is a major determinant of the microbial composition of these indigenous food products.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103305
JournalFood Microbiology
Volume85
Number of pages11
ISSN0740-0020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Keywords

  • 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing
  • Animal-sourced
  • Desiccation
  • Inuit
  • Microbiota
  • Traditional foods

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