Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Isolation and characterization of bacteriocin producing strains from traditional fermented foods

International Conference and Exhibition on Food Processing & Technology

November 22-24, 2012 Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India

Janani Arunthavaratnam and S.S. Sheelavantmath

Posters: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

Ready-to-eat (RTE), preprocessed and attractively packaged convenient foods with long shelf life are more to life than heatand- eat foods. Convenience and the opportunity to taste the flavors of ?home? are also the main drivers for the demand of RTE food. The RTE food items are laden with chemical preservatives that are harmful to health. Biopreservation is an attractive and alternative approach to chemical preservatives. At present, there is an increased tendency to use biopreservatives in the form of protective cultures or their metabolites (e.g. enzymes & bacteriocins). Among biopreservatives, bacteriocins are catching rapid attention in food preservation. This project deals with the isolation & characterization of bacteriocins producing strains and thus, 10 different samples of various traditional fermented foods were screened for the presence of bacteriocins producing strains using agar well diffusion method. The best isolates inhibiting the growth of the indicator organisms like Bacillus subtilis & Bacillus cereus were obtained and identified as Lactobacillus lactis & Lactobacillus acidophilus. The inhibitory substance (i.e., Bacteriocins) was found active in a wide range of pH, temperature & some other physiological characters. The antimicrobial substances produced by these strains are most probably a potent bacteriocin and can be used for biological preservation of food.