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Public databases and repositories often lack standardised information that matter for cheese ecology. MetaCheeseDB provides cheese-specific metadata, not just sequencing descriptors. Indeed, for each sample we compiled 42 metadata fields, including both technical descriptors, and food- and process-related variables. We additionally provide a harmonised subset of 18 standardised metadata fields which are cheese-specific, relevant for robust cross-study comparisons.
Examples of curated cheese-relevant fields include:
- milk source and animal management
- thermal treatment
- starter strategy
- curd treatment and ripening context
- rind presence and sampled compartment
- texture class
- country of origin and EU-labelling status
You can find the full cheese-specific metadata table and its rationale at this link.
Browsing interface
Use the MetaCheeseDB browsing interface to explore individual samples, their source datasets, sequencing accessions, taxonomic profiles and curated metadata without requiring computational tools!
The search box in the upper-right corner allows users to search across the full table. In addition, the filter fields beneath each column header can be used to restrict the table to specific metadata values. For example, typing mozzarella in the filter field under the Subtype column will display only samples matching mozzarella cheese subtypes.
Columns can also be ordered to facilitate exploration. Clicking a column header once sorts the entries in ascending order, whereas clicking it a second time sorts them in descending order. This can be used, for example, to group samples by dataset, accession, country, milk source, starter culture, or any other curated metadata fields. In detail, it is useful to sort categorical fields alphabetically (e.g., dataset, accession, country, milk source or starter culture), and numerical fields numerically (i.e., relative abundance values of the species).
The interface is intended to support rapid exploration of the catalogue, including identification of comparable cheese samples, inspection of metadata coverage across studies, and preliminary assessment of the occurrence of taxa of interest.
Contributions
Feedback and contributions are most welcome. Please use the repository issue tracker or the contact details provided on MetaCheeseDB website.