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Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens (NDA) was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on Yarrowia lipolytica yeast biomass as a novel food (NF) pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. The NF is the dried and heat-killed biomass of Yarrowia lipolytica, a yeast species that is widespread in nature and which can be found in the environment as well as in foods. The production process is sufficiently described and does not raise safety concerns. The information provided on the composition of the NF is sufficient and does not raise safety concerns. The applicant proposed to use the NF as a food supplement in the form of capsules, tablets or powder. The target population for the NF is the general population above 3 years of age. The maximum proposed daily use levels are 3 g/day for children from 3 years to less than 10 years of age and 6 g/day thereafter. Taking into account the composition of the NF and the proposed use levels, the consumption of the NF is not nutritionally disadvantageous. No relevant toxicological information was provided. The Panel considers that given the qualified presumption of safety (QPS) status for production purposes of Yarrowia lipolytica and the fact that the production process of the NF does not raise safety concerns, no toxicological studies are needed for the safety assessment of the NF. The Panel concludes that the NF, Yarrowia lipolytica yeast biomass, is safe under the proposed conditions of use. (C) 2019 European Food Safety Authority. EFSA Journal published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf of European Food Safety Authority.

International audience; Starter addition does not always succeed in improving standardisation and quality of the complex sensory properties of traditional fermented foods. In many cases the added strains do not grow as well as the environmental strains present in the production plant. Here, a method of geometric simplification (by dichotomy) of a complex ecosystem found on a raw milk Livarot (82 strains) was tested on cheese curd. By a limited number of cultures, successively, 40 out of 82, 20 out of 40 and 10 out of 20 strains were selected on the basis of two criteria (i) respect of the taxonomic proportion, (ii) generation by the daughter ecosystems of an odour close to the one of the mother ecosystem. Finally a sub-ecosystem of 10 strains gave an odour similar to the one of the more complex mixture. The use of molecular methods (PCR-SSCP) permitted to follow the main species growing. Mother and daughter ecosystems were characterized by sensory analysis and GC–MS. Probably because of an important redundancy of the strain functions, the method was very efficient. This method may permit to improve a lot the set up of mixture of strains and species used in fermented food industry.