• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.147-156
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• 2023

Tetragenococcus halophilus CY54, an isolate from jeotgal, grows best in media with 5% NaCl and can grow at 18% and higher salt concentration. Three different doenjang samples were prepared with multiple starters including T. halophilus CY54. TBZA doenjang was prepared with T. halophilus, Bacillus subtilis, Zygosaccharomyces rouxii and Aspergillus oryzae. BZA doenjang was prepared with the same 3 starters except T. halophilus. KACC doenjang was prepared with a single starter, B. subtilis KACC16750. During 16 weeks of fermentation at 25℃, the viable counts were maintained in the range of 7-8 log CFU/g in all 3 samples. As fermentation progressed, pH decreased and titratable acidity (TA) gradually increased. Crude protein contents decreased slightly. TBZA doenjang showed higher amino-type nitrogen (ANN) and volatile basic nitrogen (VBN) contents, and KACC doenjang showed higher ammonia-type nitrogen (AMN) content. TBZA doenjang showed higher fibrinolytic and protease activity than other doenjang samples. Metabolites analyses by GC/MS showed that doenjang samples were separated from each other by partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) analysis. Seventeen major metabolites involved in the differences between samples were identified and they included organic acids, amino acids, sugars, fatty acids and alcohols. TBZA doenjang showed higher contents for most metabolites responsible for flavor and taste of fermented foods including doenjang. These results showed that T. halophilus could be useful as a starter for doenjang and can improve the product quality by accelerating the fermentation processes.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.254-260
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• 2016

Doenjang samples were prepared by inoculation of multiple starters consisting of two Bacillus spp., one yeast, and one fungus. Doenjang A was fermented with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens EMD17, B. amyloliquefaciens MJ1-4, Pichia farinosa SY80, and Rhizopus oryzae. Doenjang B and C were fermented with the same yeast and fungus but different Bacillus strains; namely, B. amyloliquefaciens EMD17 and B. subtilis CH3-5 for doenjang B, and B. amyloliquefaciens MJ1-4 and B. subtilis CH3-5 for doenjang C. Doenjang D was fermented with microorganisms present in rice straw (control). The doenjang samples were spiked with B. cereus ATCC14579 at two different levels, 10⁴ CFU/g doenjang (I) and 10⁷ CFU/g doenjang (II). All eight doenjang samples were fermented for 70 days at 25℃. Growth of B. cereus was inhibited in doenjang A, B, and C, with the bacterial cell count after 70 days being less than the initial 10⁴ CFU/g added, whereas B. cereus was not inhibited in doenjang D. Doenjang B showed the strongest inhibitory activity against B. cereus, with a cell count of less than 10³ CFU/g after 42 days, even when B. cereus was initially added at 10⁷ CFU/g. Some properties of the doenjang samples, such as pH, TA, and amino-type nitrogen content, were similar to those of doenjang fermented with starters only. The results indicate that carefully selected starters can effectively prevent the growth of B. cereus during doenjang fermentation.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.109-116
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• 2016

A test meju (meju 1) was prepared by inoculating two strains of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (EMD17, MJ1-4), Pichia farinosa SY80, and Rhizopus oryzae into cooked soybeans. A control (meju 2) was prepared by inoculating Bacillus subtilis KACC16450 and Aspergillus oryzae. Another control (meju 3) was prepared using rice straw as the source of microorganisms. Three different mejus were fermented for 56 days outdoors. Meju 1 and meju 2 showed higher pH values than meju 3, whereas meju 3 showed higher titratable acidity than meju 1 and meju 2. Meju 1 showed the highest fibrinolytic activity. Bacillus cereus was not detected in any mejus, but various microorganisms were detected in meju 2 and 3. Histamine was detected in meju 2 and tyramine in meju 3 at lower concentration, which were not detected in meju 1. It was concluded that microbially safe, fermented soybean products could be produced from meju fermented with starters such as B. amyloliquefaciens EMD17 and B. amyloliquefaciens MJ1-4.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.524-531
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality properties of Meju prepared by inoculating two strains of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens HJ5-2, and Aspergillus oryzae PS03. The three soybean varieties that include Daewonkong, Daechan, and Saedanbaek were used in this experiment. The fermentation temperature during the Meju aging varied at 20℃, 30℃, and 40℃, respectively. The physicochemical analysis of the soybeans, showed that the cured protein and fat contents were 34.83~43.49% and 12.91~18.90%, respectively. The pH and total acidity were 6.47~6.93 and 0.11~1.22%, respectively. The change in appearance of the Meju was that the yellow-green mold was well formed on seven days at fermentation temperature of 20℃ and 30℃, but at 40℃, there was minimal mold formation and cracking of the surface. The amino nitrogen content was highest on the Daechan Meju at 621.83 mg% for seven days. The amylase increased as the fermentation period increased in all samples, and the protease increased rapidly until the first day of the fermentation, and then gradually increased thereafter. The total number of bacteria increased or decreased as the fermentation proceeded to 6.66~10.07 log CFU/g. The mold counts increased with increasing fermentation period in the range of 6.38~8.79 log CFU/g.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2020

Bacteria of the genus Enterococcus are of importance in food fermentations as well as their use as probiotics in humans and livestock. However, they are also important nosocomial pathogens that cause infections. Some strains are resistant to multiple antibiotics and possess virulence factors. The role of Enterococcus species in disease has raised issues on their safety for use in foods or as probiotics. First, this review summarized the positive and negative traits of Enterococcus spp. to illustrate the controversial nature of this bacterial genus and discussed the current genomic approaches can eliminate pathogenic strains. Then, this review examined the current status of starter development for traditional food fermentations and the regulation on the approval of novel food microorganisms in Korea to point out problems in the regulation. Based on the conclusions from the studies on Enterococcus spp., we suggested the direction of safety assessment of novel food microorganisms in Korea.