Abstract
Coconut oil has profound health benefits but the high content of fatty acids is a concern to many consumers, as several processing methods have failed to produce oil with considerable change in fatty acid content. In this study, selected lactic acid bacteria including Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus pentosus, Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Enterococcus faecium were used to ferment coconut milk for production of virgin coconut oil. Fermentation was carried out for 48 h, after which the milk was processed through heating to produce coconut oil. Phytochemical content, proximate composition, determination of steroids and free fatty acid content of the oil and antibacterial activity of the oil against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were carried out using standard analytical and laboratory procedures. The results obtained in this study indicate that the control and LAB fermented oil had similar composition of phytochemicals; steroids, anthraquinone and glycosides were present in all the virgin coconut oil produced; however, reduced moisture content, lower levels of ester and free fatty acid was observed and higher quantity of protein and ash were obtained for coconut oil fermented with LAB compared to the control. The virgin coconut oil produced using the starter culture also had higher acceptability (P<0.05) compared to the spontaneously fermented oil, as the milk fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum had the highest acceptability value. There was no significant difference in the antibacterial activity of the virgin coconut oil produced against the test organisms. This study indicates that free fatty acid and other undesirable constituents in coconut oil can be reduced using lactic acid bacteria as starter culture, hence, increasing the acceptability of the product. Key words: Lactic acid bacteria, coconut milk, fermentation, coconut oil.
Highlights
Coconut oil is extensively used for food, industrial applications, health promotion and disease prevention (Manisha and Shyamapada, 2011)
Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) constitute part of the autochibonous microbiota of many types of foods. They are defined as a clutter of lactic acidproducing Low G+C%, non-spore forming, Gram-positive rods and cocci and catalase-negative which share many bio-chemical, physiological and genetic properties (Abriouel et al, 2004). This group of bacteria has a particular interest for food industries due to their technological properties, being often used as starter cultures to produce fermented products.Virgin coconut oil (VCO) seemed to be the purest form of coconut oil, water white in color, contains natural vitamin E and with very low free fatty acid content and low peroxide value
Pure culture of five lactic acid bacteria isolated from fresh fruits possessing antibacterial activity and safe to be used as probiotics were used as seed culture in different vessels; one milliliter of 105MacFarland of each of the bacteria was introduced into 250 ml of coconut milk for fermentation
Summary
Coconut oil is extensively used for food, industrial applications, health promotion and disease prevention (Manisha and Shyamapada, 2011). Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) constitute part of the autochibonous microbiota of many types of foods They are defined as a clutter of lactic acidproducing Low G+C%, non-spore forming, Gram-positive rods and cocci and catalase-negative which share many bio-chemical, physiological and genetic properties (Abriouel et al, 2004). This group of bacteria has a particular interest for food industries due to their technological properties, being often used as starter cultures to produce fermented products.Virgin coconut oil (VCO) seemed to be the purest form of coconut oil, water white in color, contains natural vitamin E and with very low free fatty acid content and low peroxide value. VCO may be defined as the naturally processed (Nour et al, 2009), chemically-free and additive-free product from fresh coconut meat or its derivative (coconut milk and coconut milk residue) which has not undergone any further chemical processing after extraction (Marina et al, 2009)
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