This study was carried out to investigate the survival rates of strain
s of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli in lactic and acetic acids and
to compare them with their survival rates in sour porridge. The fermen
ted and unfermented porridges were prepared in the laboratory. The fer
mented porridge had both lactic and acetic acids; unfermented porridge
was adjusted to the pH of sour porridge with lactic and acetic acids.
The sour porridge, the unfermented porridge adjusted to the pH of sou
r porridge with lactic and acetic acids and the unfermented porridge w
ere inoculated with six strains of enteropathogenic E. coli. The inocu
lated porridges had a final concentration of 10(6)-10(7) colony-formin
g units (c.f.u.) per ml of food. Few of the strains of enteropathogeni
c E. coli were detected 48 hours after inoculation in sour porridge. A
ll the strains were detected 48 hours after inoculation in unfermented
porridges adjusted to the pH of sour porridge with lactic and acetic
acids but decreased in numbers of surviving cells by about 2 log(10) c
.f.u. per ml of food. All the strains survived in unfermented porridge
for 48 hours and increased in numbers. These results show that lactic
and acetic acids have antimicrobial properties but they are not as ef
fective as sour porridge in inhibiting the growth and survival of ente
ropathogenic E. coli. The inhibitory property of sour porridge is due
to a combination of many substances including lactic and acetic acids.