Wagashi, also known as Gassiré in the Fulfulde language, is a traditional cheese widely consumed in Benin, particularly by the Fulani communities. It is made from cow’s milk coagulated using a plant extract from Calotropis procera, and it plays an important role in the local diet, often serving as a substitute for meat or fish. Wagashi-Gassirè is produced in two main forms: a colored version, obtained by adding panicles of Sorghum vulgare or Sorghum codatum, and a non-colored version, following artisanal practices. To better understand how this variation in processing affects the microbial composition of the product, a comparative study was conducted using the Illumina MiSeq sequencing technique targeting the V1-V2 region of the 16S rRNA gene. The results revealed notable differences between the two cheese types. The non-colored Wagashi was dominated by the bacterial families Lactobacillaceae (60%) and Streptococcaceae (38%), with a high prevalence of species such as Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus fermentum, and Streptococcus thermophilus, known for their fermentation benefits and probiotic properties. In contrast, the colored cheese showed a marked abundance of Streptococcaceae (89%) and Bacillaceae (10%), including species like Streptococcus infantarius, Aeromonas sp., Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, and Streptococcus thermophilus, some of which may be potentially pathogenic. These findings indicate that the traditional coloring process significantly influences the microbial diversity of Wagashi and raise the possibility that the non-colored variant could harbor more functional bacteria. However, further investigations are needed to better understand these differences and to assess the safety of the colored variant. Key-words: traditional cheese Wagashi, Gassirè, High-Throughput Amplicon Sequencing, coloured, non coloured
PHILIPPE SESSOU, GWLADYS S. KOMAGBE, SOUAÏBOU FAROUGOU, JACQUES MAHILLON