Isolation of biogenic amine-negative lactic acid bacteria for Chinese rice wine fermentation based on molecular marker reverse screening.

Background: Chinese rice wine (CRW; a traditional alcoholic beverage in China with unique flavor and high nutritional value) containing high level of biogenic amines (BAs) may be deleterious to human health. The processes of rice soaking, primary fermentation and secondary fermentation were found to be the major factors for accumulation of BAs during industrial CRW production.

Results: To reduce the risk of the formation of BAs in CRW production, Enterococcus durans AR315, a BA-negative lactic acid bacterium, was isolated from CRW samples by PCR-based molecular marker reverse screening in this work. With addition of AR315 during steeping rice phase, the level of total BAs was significantly decreased by 45.1% in comparison with the control. Moreover, the final BA concentration with the addition of AR315 was 27.6% lower than that of the control during fermentation phase.

Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first report of decreased accumulation of BAs in CRW production using a BA-negative lactic acid bacterium. Hence, using a BA-negative lactic acid bacterium as a starter culture could be an efficient strategy for significantly reducing the formation of BAs, which has the potential for industrial application in CRW production. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.