Potential production and detoxification of penicillic acid in mold-fermented sausage (salami).

About 10% of 346 Penicillium cultures isolated from mold-fermented sausage synthesized the toxic metabolite penicillic acid on liquid media. Five of these producing cultures inoculated onto sausage failed to produce this toxin in up to 70 days of ripening. Several amino acids normally occurring in meat (cysteine, glutathione, arginine, histidine, and lysine) were found capable of readily reacting with penicillic acid. The adducts formed by the reaction between cysteine or glutathione with penicillic acid were identified and found to be non-toxic to mice, quails, and in the rabbit skin test but exhibited toxicity to the chick embryo. Hypotheses accounting for this residual toxicity are advanced.