The major industrial use of this fungus is the production of blue cheeses, flavouring agents, antifungals, polysaccharides, proteases, and other enzymes.

First described by the American mycologist Charles Thom in 1906,[5] P. roqueforti was initially a heterogeneous species of blue-green, sporulating fungi.

[8] Another characteristic morphological feature of this species is its production of asexual spores in phialides with a distinctive brush-shaped configuration.

[12] In 2014, researchers reported inducing the growth of sexual structures in P. roqueforti, including ascogonia, cleistothecia, and ascospores.

[13] P. roqueforti can tolerate cold temperatures, low oxygen levels, and both alkali and weaker acid preservatives which allows the fungi to thrive and be found in dairy environments, such as cheese.

Considerable evidence indicates that most strains are capable of producing harmful secondary metabolites (alkaloids and other mycotoxins) under certain growth conditions.

The andrastins inhibit proteins involved in the efflux of anticancer drugs from multidrug-resistant cancer cells.

Similarly, these strains cannot produce mycophenolic acid due to a deletion in the lipase/esterase domain of the mpaC gene.

Non-cheese populations maintain higher metabolite diversity, particularly in fatty acids and terpenoids, which may provide competitive advantages in more complex environments where fungi must compete with other microorganisms.