Lactobacillus alimentarius: a specific spoilage organism in marinated herring

Spoilage characterised by bulging of lids and gas formation affected variou s product lots of different marinated herring types. Microbiological analys es resulted in growth on MRS and Rogosa SL agar. Altogether 206 randomly se lected colonies from two unspoiled and ten spoiled samples were characteris ed using phenotypical key tests and a 16 + 23S rRNA gene-based RFLP identif ication database. L. alimentarius was found to be the specific spoilage org anism in all samples. All isolates obtained Rom the different product types were of the same clonal type. The slight rise in pH value together with ma rked gas production suggested a rare lactic acid bacteria spoilage type cal led 'protein swell'. L. alimentarius has not been previously associated wit h herring spoilage. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.