Indian <i>Chilika</i> curd – A potential dairy product for Geographical Indication registration

Abstract

India has a rich heritage of traditional fermented foods, significantly known for their tremendous nutritional and therapeutic properties, and great economic potentials. <i>Chilika </i>curd is one of such dairy food traditionally prepared in a cup shaped bamboo basket using milk of <i>Chilika</i> Buffalo by ethnic community of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Chilika</i> (Odisha, India)<i>, </i>it is known to have an exceptionally extended shelf life. In the current study, our objective was to explore this unique character of <i>Chilika </i>curd. We found it positively showing longer shelf life and could validate it experimentally, a total of 64 microbial isolates were isolated from curd and milk samples collected from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Chilika</i>. Phenotypically these isolates were found diverse and characterized as <i>Lactobacillus </i>(18), <i>Leuconostoc </i>(13), <i>Lactococcus </i>(12), <i>Streptococcus</i> (9) and Yeast (12) which was further confirmed by specific PCR. Surprisingly, 8 <i>Lactobacillus</i> isolates out of the above were found to show anti-fungal effect against the test organism <i>Candida parapsilosis </i>(NCDC 279), which can be correlated with preservation of curd from fungal spoilage, and enhancing its shelf life. As a conclusion to legally protect the heritage of <i>Chilika</i> curd it can be suggested as a potential candidate for getting it registered as Geographical Indication.