Lactic Acid Bacteria in Food Spoilage

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are ubiquitous to food ecosystems and generally associated with fermented foodstuffs, wherein their activity and acidification delivers improved palatability and preservation. LAB species usually associated with spoilage of fruit juices have produced turbidity and excessive acidity, and these implications have involved lactobacilli, leuconostocs, and weissellas. Despite the occurrence of LAB as minor populations on intact vegetable or fruit surfaces, animal skin, and grains as they lack mechanisms to penetrate the outer barriers, they exhibit the remarkable feature to prevail when nutrients become available, as in the case of decaying plants, exuding animal tissue, milk, and flour slurries. For dairy products, the involvement of LAB as starter cultures has been extensively studied for production of fermented products such as yogurt, cheese, buttermilk, and so on. LAB are ubiquitous to raw material entering food-handling facilities and can be established as house microbiota contaminating next production batches.