Microbiological profile of murcha starters and physico-chemical characteristics of poko, a rice based traditional fermented food product of Nepal.

Shrestha, H. and Nand, K. and Rati, E. R. (2002) Microbiological profile of murcha starters and physico-chemical characteristics of poko, a rice based traditional fermented food product of Nepal. Food Biotechnology, 16 (1). 1-15, 14 ref..

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Abstract

Poko is a traditional rice based fermented food of Nepal prepared using murcha as the starter. Microbiological evaluation of murcha starters was carried out and microbiological and biochemical changes that occur during poko fermentation were investigated. In the murcha starters, lactic acid bacteria and yeast were dominant at the 5 x 105-1.0 x 109 cfu/g range while fungi were present at 2 x 105-1.0 x 107 cfu/g. Coliforms (1 x 102-1.4 x 105 cfu/g), Escherichia coli (1 x 103 cfu/g) and Staphylococcus aureus (1 x 102 /g) were present in some of the murcha starters. Bacillus cereus was absent in all the starters. Microbial succession during poko fermentation suggested that it was primarily a mixed fermentation of yeasts, fungi and lactic acid bacteria. After 2 and 3 days of fermentation at 30C, quality poko products were obtained which had pH, acidity, reducing sugar, total sugar and alcohol levels in the ranges of 3.0-3.2, 1.1-1.3% lactic acid, 14.4-15.6%, 14.6-18.2% and 1-1.6%, respectively. These ranges gave the poko desirable sensory properties. Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida versatilis, Lactobacillus spp., Pediococcus spp. and Rhizopus spp. were the dominant microorganisms identified from the poko fermentation. Results indicate that the quality of poko depends upon the microbial flora in the traditional murcha starters.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	BIOCHEMISTRY-; FERMENTATION-; FERMENTED-FOODS; MICROBIOLOGY-; STARTERS-; MURCHA-; POKO-
Subjects:	600 Technology > 08 Food technology > 18 Processed foods > 02 Fermented foods 600 Technology > 08 Food technology > 29 Microbiological food
Divisions:	Food Microbiology
Depositing User:	Food Sci. & Technol. Information Services
Date Deposited:	01 Jul 2009 04:15
Last Modified:	01 Jul 2009 04:15
URI:	http://ir.cftri.res.in/id/eprint/6357

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