Survival of Escherichia coli O157 : H7 during the fermentation of Spanish-style green table olives (conservolea variety) supplemented with different carbon sources

Olives were supplemented with two different carbon sources (sucrose and glu cose) at five different levels (0%, 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5% and 1%) and the fermen tation procedure was followed after inoculation with or without starter cul ture. inhibition of Escherichia coli O157:H7 was evident in all fermentatio n procedures regardless of the treatment used. The pathogen numbers decline d but did not die out during fermentation. It was evident that the rate of death was higher in samples supplemented with starter cultures compared to natural fermentation. The production of acids during fermentation seems to be the main factor that governs the behaviour of this pathogen under such s tress conditions. The HPLC analysis revealed that lactate, formate and acet ate were among the end-products during the fermentation of green olives. (C ) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.