Ph.D thesis of Mohamed Traoré (2025-2028)

Mohamed Traoré's thesis is part of the ANR Veg&lait program. It focuses on modeling the latency time of heat-treated Bacillus spores in new mixed milk-plant-based refrigerated products.

The growing demand for animal product substitutes such as plant-based beverages reflects a significant shift in global eating habits, driven by concerns about health and environmental sustainability. Legumes, with their high protein content, are increasingly being incorporated into diets, supported by national and global public recommendations that encourage a balance between animal and plant proteins. Fermented milk and legume products are at risk of contamination by highly resistant spore-forming bacteria capable of growing in cold conditions, such as Bacillus subtilis, B. megaterium, B. pumilus, B. amyloliquefaciens, as well as pathogens such as Bacillus cereus. One of the current research challenges is to accurately characterize i) the level of contamination of these bacterial spores in raw materials and derived products, ii) the level of destruction according to the thermal scale applied, and iii) the growth capacity of surviving spores in order to integrate these three elements into a public health or spoilage risk assessment. In addition, a microbial phenomenon has been little studied in bacteria to date.