They find the oldest cheese in the world in an Egyptian grave



One of the flasks found in the excavations contained a whitish milk solidified mass made from cow's milk and sheep's milk or goat's milk.

The oldest cheese in the world was in an Egyptian tomb. This was revealed by a study published in the journal & # 39; Analytical Chemistry & # 39; by the American Chemical Society.

The grave of Ptahmes, the mayor of the Egyptian city of Memphis in the 13th century BC. C., was originally excavated in 1885. After being lost under quicksand, it was rediscovered in 2010 and archaeologists found broken pots a few years later in this enclave.

One of the jars contained a solidified whitish mass, as well as a cloth of canvas that could have covered the bottle or was used to preserve its contents.

The study, funded by the Ministry of Education, University and Research of Italy, the University of Catania and the University of Cairo, consisted of solving the It shows that the researchers have purified their protein components and have analyzed them with liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.

The peptides detected by these techniques show that the sample was a dairy product made with cow's milk and sheep's milk or goat's milk. The characteristics of the canvas fabric, indicating that it was sufficient to contain a solid instead of a liquid, and the absence of other specific markers, support the conclusion that the dairy product was a solid cheese.

In addition, other peptides in the food sample suggest that it was contaminated with Brucella melitensis, a bacterium that causes brucellosis. This life-threatening disease spreads from animals to humans, mostly from unpasteurized dairy products. If the preliminary analysis of the equipment is confirmed, the sample represents the earliest reported biomolecular evidence of the disease.


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