Reference Number: 45
Year: (2005)
Link: Link to original paper
Lactic Acid Bacteria: Heterofermentative | Homofermentative
Summary
Summary
Food-borne fungi, both yeasts and moulds, cause serious spoilage of stored food. Moulds may also produce health-damaging mycotoxins, e.g. aflatoxins, trichothecenes, fumonisin, ochratoxin A and patulin. Consumer demands for minimally processed foods and reduced use of chemical preservatives have stimulated research on antifungal lactic acid bacteria as biopreservatives. Recently, a number of antifungal metabolites, e.g. cyclic dipeptides, phenyllactic acid, proteinaceous compounds, and 3-hydroxylated fatty acids have been isolated from lactic acid bacteria. This review summarizes these findings and suggests potential applications of antifungal lactic acid bacteria in the preservation of food and feeds.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS STUDY
The current paper looks at lactic acid bacteria from an interesting perspective- a potential for LAB to be used as bio-preservatives or in other words natural preservatives used in food as opposed to chemical preservatives. The ability of lactic bacteria to serve as anti-fungal agents and therefore a combinations of LAB species, or strains producing different antifungal compounds, could be employed as novel bio-preservatives by the food industry.
