Studies on some technological properties of predominant lactic acid bacteria isolated from Nigerian fermented foods

In a programme to develop starter cultures for improving the safety and qua lity of traditional fermented foods in Africa, a study was conducted on lac tic acid bacterial (LAB) strains isolated from the traditional selected Nig erian fermented foods kunun-zaki, wara, nono, iru. The LAB strains represen ting the dominating population of each product, were identified as Enteroco ccus faecalis (1), Pediococcus pentosaceus (4), and Lactobacillus fermentum (19). All the strains grew at 450 degreesC, an observation which could be attributed to the tropical environment of the fermented foods. They produce d a moderate spectrum of enzymes of relevance to food processing, and exhib ited similar patterns of enzymatic activity between species, but generally showed weak esterase and lipase activities as compared with peptidases. Whi le no proteinase activity was detected, most strains showed high galactosid ase activity. Two strains showed ability to degrade phytic acid. None of th e strains produced any detectable bacteriocins or biogenic amines under the test conditions used, and all were unable to hydrolyse bile salt. Eleven ( 45.8%) of the strains coagulated skim milk at 30 degreesC within 24-36 h, a nd at 37 degreesC within 12-20 h together with a moderate drop in pH. The r esults are discussed to highlight the relevance of technological features o f starter cultures in food processing in the African environment.