ABSTRACT
The primary contributions of the LAB to a food product are to preserve the nutritive qualities of the raw material, by extending the shelf life and also by controlling the growth of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria. This is achieved by production of the inhibitory substances and by competing for nutrients (O’Sullivan et al., 2002). They occur naturally in foods and as such, have traditionally been used as natural biopreservatives of
food and feed. The preservation activity is also recognized to be the result of acidication that results from their ability to synthesize and excrete lactic acid (Davidson et al., 1995; Herreros et al., 2005). The various compounds produced by the starter bacteria may all in some way be implicated in preventing the growth of unwanted bacteria, but the production of adequate quantities of lactic acid is the fundamental rule to successful fermentation (Davidson et al., 1995).
