Comparative analyses of the bacterial communities present in the spontaneously fermented milk products of Northeast India and West Africa.

Introduction: Spontaneous fermentation of raw cow milk without backslopping is in practice worldwide as part of the traditional food culture, including "" preparation in earthen pots in Northeast India, "" of Niger and "" of Benin prepared in calabash vessels in West Africa. Very few reports are available about the differences in bacterial communities that evolved during the spontaneous mesophilic fermentation of cow milk in diverse geographical regions.

Methods: In this study, we used high throughput amplicon sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA gene to investigate 44 samples of naturally fermented homemade milk products and compared the bacterial community structure of these foods, which are widely consumed in Northeast India and Western Africa.

Results And Discussion: The spontaneous milk fermentation shared the lactic acid bacteria, mainly belonging to and in these two geographically isolated regions. Indian samples showed a high bacterial diversity with the predominance of and , whereas was abundant in the West African samples. However, the cheese of Benin, prepared by curdling the milk with proteolytic leaf extract of followed by natural fermentation, contained spp.) as the dominant bacteria. Our analysis also detected several potential pathogens, like an emerging infectious foodborne pathogen in samples, an uncultured bacterium of in and samples, and spp. in the samples of Northeast India. These findings will allow us to develop strategies to address the safety issues related to spontaneous milk fermentation and implement technological interventions for controlled milk fermentation by designing starter culture consortiums for the sustainable production of uniform quality products with desirable functional and organoleptic properties.