Characterisation and biochemical properties of predominant lactic acid bacteria from fermenting cassava for selection as starter cultures.

A total of 375 lactic acid bacteria were isolated from fermenting cassava in South Africa, Benin, Kenya and Germany, and were characterised by phenotypic and genotypic tests. These could be divided into five main groups comprising strains of facultatively heterofermentative rods, obligately heterofermentative rods, heterofermentative cocci, homofermentative cocci and obligately homofermentative rods, in decreasing order of predominance. Most of the facultatively heterofermentative rods were identified by phenotypic tests as presumptive Lactobacillus plantarum-group strains, which also comprised the most predominant bacteria (54.

Nutritional and sensory evaluation of tempe-fortified maize-based weaning foods.

Maize-based weaning foods prepared from whole maize meal or dehydrated fermented maize (ogi) flour fortified with soybean, cowpea or groundbean tempe, with or without the addition of melon seed flour were fed to 40 albino weanling rats. The nutrient quality of the weaning foods was monitored by the measurement of protein efficiency ratio (PER), net protein ratio (NPR), true digestibility (TD), biological value (BV) and net protein utilization (NPU). Amino acid composition and amino acid scores were determined.