DETERMINATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF THE FERMENTED TEA KOMBUCHA

Early reports on Kombucha, a traditional fermented ten beverage, sugge sted :that it has antimicrobial activity against a spectrum of organis ms, and that concentrates of unfermented ten components also have anti microbial properties. Therefore, the focus of this study was to deter mine and characterize Kombucha's antimicrobial activity using an absor bent disc method. Antimicrobial activity was observed in the fermented samples containing 33 g/L total acid (7 g/L acetic acid) against the tested cram-positive and cram-negative organisms (Agrobacterium tumefa ciens, Bacillus cereus, Salmonella choleraesuis serotype typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli. Candida albicans was not inhibited by Kombucha. The contribution of tea itself to the antimicro bial activity of Kombucha proved to be significant in the tested organ isms, even at the highest levels tested 70 g/L dry ten. As a result, t he antimicrobial activity of Kombucha was attributed to its acetic aci d content.