Isolation of Hafnia Species from Kimchi

Eight commercially packaged kimchi products were examined over 15 days of storage at $4^{\circ}C$ to evaluate the occurrence of Hafnia alvei (H. alvei). Additionally, 7 saeujeot products, as a possible ingredient source, were analyzed to examine the bacteria's origin. Over the storage period, kimchi samples had decreasing pH levels, which stabilized at pH 4.2; acidity increased to $0.9{\pm}0.1%$. Lactose-nonfermenting bacteria, which H. alvei belongs to, gradually reduced in numbers over the kimchi storage. However, the relative frequency of H. alvei to lactose-nonfermenting bacteria tended to increase. From the kimchi samples, 58 H. alvei-presumptive colonies were selected. Forty three colonies turned out to be H. alvei and 15 colonies were identified as other strains or uncertain identifications when the API 20E system was used. From further test, 3 of the 43 colonies were H. alvei (-) against the phage test. Finally, H. alvei was isolated from saeujeot, indicating that this ingredient can be an originating source of H. alvei in kimchi.