Lactic acid producing bacterial culture

A culture cocktail has been developed, consisting of a lactic acid producing bacterial culture condensate mixture (LCCM) to be applied as an antimicrobial. This mixture has a low pH and also contains bacteriocin-like... 

Acidophilus milk is a sharp, harsh, acidic cultured milk produced by fermenting whole or skim milk with active cultures of Lactobacillus acidophilus. Honey, glucose, and tomato juice may be added as nutrients to stimulate bacterial growth and contribute flavor. Plain acidophilus milk has the same composition as whole milk or skim milk, except that part of its lactose is converted to 0.6 to 1% lactic acid by the culture organisms. Speck (1976), who proposed the addition of L. acidophilus to pasteurized milk (sweet acidophilus milk), described the beneficial effects of implanting the organisms in the human intestines. 

In addition to lactic acid producing bacteria, a few mycelial molds belonging to Rhizopus are good lactic acid producers. The ability of Rhizopus to produce only L-(-I-)-lactic acid aerobically under nitrogen-limited environments has been studied [25-28]. Compared to bacterial fermentation, Rhizopus requires only inorganic salts. In addition, Rhizopus cultures are more tolerant to a low pH environment. Consequently, pH maintenance is not as stringent as bacterial culture during lactic acid fermentation. Furthermore, Rhizopus molds are amy-lolytic that can produce lactic acid from starchy materials directly. For example, R. oryzae NRRL 395 was used to ferment starch derived from barley, cassava, corn, oat, and rice to L-lactic acid [25]. 

CULTURED MILK AND OTHER PRODUCTS. Cultured milks are fluid products that result from the souring of milk or its products by bacteria that produce lactic acid, whereeis acidified milks are obtained by the addition of food-grade acids to produce an acidity of not less than 0.20%, expressed as lactic acid. The word cultured is used because pure bacterial cultures are employed in commercial manufacture. It is proper also to use the words fermented or sour because lactic acid, which imparts sourness, is produced by fermentation of milk sugar (lactose). Kefir, koumiss, acidophilus milk, cultured buttermilk, sour cream, and yogurt are examples of lactic acid fermentations. 

There is some evidence to suggest that soluble compounds produced by lactic acid bacteria may act directly on tumor cells to inhibit their growth. Arimochi et al. (1997) showed (a) an inhibitory effect of L. acidophilus on azoxymethane-induced ACF formation in rat colon and (b) enhanced removal of 0 -methylguanine from the colonic mucosal DNA. This inhibitory effect was found in culture supernatants and not from bacterial cells. Furthermore, other studies have shown that dietary administration of lyophilized cultures of B. longum suppressed azoxymethane-induced colonic tumor development, along with a decrease in colonic mucosal cell proliferation and colonic mucosal and tumor ornithine decarboxylase and ras-p21 activities (Reddy, 1998). 

In the human body, mevalonic acid occurs as a precursor in the manufacture of cholesterol. In bacterial cultures, mevalonic acid can replace acetate eis a growth promoting factor for Lactobacillus acidophilus, a bacterium producing lactic acid. 

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