Quantification of extracellular alpha-acetolactate oxidative decarboxylation in diacetyl production by an alpha-acetolactate overproducing strain of Lactococcus lactis sp lactis bv. diacetylactis

The quantification of alpha-acetolactate (AAL) extracellular oxidative deca rboxylation during an AAL overproducing strain culture shows that this reac tion is at the origin of about 90% of the diacetyl production and that only a small proportion of extracellular AAL is readily transformed to diacetyl . These results, compared with previous ones obtained with a non AAL accumu lating strain, allow research options to be put forward for the improvement of microbiological diacetyl production.