Microbiome of madila - a southern-african fermented milk product

Abstract

This study was embarked upon to obtain strains of lactic acid bacteria from a traditional fermented milk product - Madila. The milk was obtained locally from three different locations. Samples of the Madila were taken at different intervals during the course of the preparation and analysed. Characterization of seven isolates through morphological, physiological, biochemical and carbohydrate fermentation test have been reported. Six species of lactic acid bacteria were identified and they include Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactobacillus brevis; other non lactic acid bacteria identified were Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus. The counts ranged from 7.15 X 102 to 2.57 X 105 for non lactic acid bacteria and 2.25 X 107 to 8.63 X 109 for lactic acid bacteria. It was observed that the counts of non lactic acid bacteria reduced progressively as the number of lactic acid bacteria increased.