New procedure for the detection of lactic acid bacteria in vegetables producing antibacterial substances

There is an increasing interest in antibacterial-producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as protective cultures on ready-to-use vegetables. A new procedure for detection of active strains has been developed, which consisted of anaerobic incubation (30°C, 2 d) of juice of 'iceberg lettuce' on MRS agar or lactose-bromcresol purple (LBP) agar followed by overlaying with the indicator strain in soft agar (7.5 g/L). After overnight incubation at appropriate temperature, the plates were examined for clear inhibition zone around the colonies. The developed procedure permitted the detection of active LAB in 3 d compared with several weeks for the traditional procedure. The use of LBP agar in conjunction with incubation of plates at 8°C may give additional information about the nonacidic characteristic of antibacterial substances secreted, and also about the psychrotrophic behavior of producer strains, which could be of interest as biocontrol cultures to improve the safety of ready-to-use vegetables commonly stored under refrigeration. © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.Peer Reviewe