Fermentation Products and Carbon Balance of Spoilage Bacillus cereus
JINN-CHYI WANG 1* AND HSI-HUA WANG 2
1. Department of Food Sanitation, Tajen Institute of Technology, 20 Wei-Shin Rd., Shin-Erh Village,Yen-Pu Township, Pingtung County, Taiwan
2. Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Taiwan University, 1, Sec 4, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei County, Taiwan
(Received: December 22, 2000; Accepted: December 18, 2001)
ABSTRACT
Products of fermentation, especially volatile compounds, and the carbon balance of a spoilage microorganism usually provide useful information to understand the fermentation characteristics of the organism and as a basis for determination of contaminants. In this study, the cultivation of spoilage Bacillus cereus at 35℃ in a culture medium with glucose as the sole carbon source was performed in order to measure fermentation products including headspace gases, and overall carbon balance during fermentation. The organism reached their stationary phase after 20 h growth. Under anaerobic fermentation, the recovery ratio of carbon was higher than the corresponding aerobic one. The major fermentation products were 2,3-butanediol and ethanol under anaerobic fermentation, and it's 2,3-butanediol under anaerobic fermentation. The calculation of the balance of oxidation and reduction reaction yielded a theoretical value nearly equal to 1 during anaerobic fermentation. The results of this study can support to develop a system for rapid detection of headspace gases of major fermentation products specific to food spoilage by using a gas biosensor.
Keywords: Bacillus cereus, carbon balance, volatile compounds