YeastIdent-Food/ProleFood, a new system for the identification of food yeasts based on physiological and biochemical tests Original Research Article

A new kit for the identification of yeasts in foods called YeastIdent-Food/ProleFood has been developed. The kit comprises a set of 24 physiological and biochemical tests and computer software (ProleFood) for personal or Macintosh computers that analyses the data obtained from physiological and biochemical tests. Validation of the system in the laboratory revealed that it is very efficient at identifying yeasts from culture collections and those isolated from foods. The results obtained for type yeast strains using YeastIdent-Food coincide with those reported in the literature and were correctly identified by the ProleFood software. In addition, several strains isolated from two types of foods were identified with the new system. Identification was confirmed using low molecular weight RNA profiles that allowed the identification of the yeast species.