Isolation and screening lactic acid bacteria for riboflavin production and their use for bioenrichment of curd

Abstract

As many as 47 lactic acid bacteria were isolated from various vegetables and fruits and raita collected from local households and characterized. All of them were Gram positive and catalase negative. The isolates were screened for riboflavin production. The riboflavin production varied from 0.86 to 10.90 mg L-1. The isolate Ra1 produced the highest riboflavin (10.90 ppm). Incidentally, it also produced 5.6 per cent lactic acid and 21.4 ppm exopolysaccharide (EPS). Similarly, N2 and F2 isolates produced 10.90 and 10.20 ppm riboflavin and 21.17 and 21.24 ppm EPS, respectively. These three selected isolates were used for preparing a functional curd andevaluated. The curd produced by inoculating N2 and Ra1 were of very good quality with excellent flavor, taste and texture and smooth cutting quality. Ra1 produced a functional curd with the highest riboflavin content (13.97 ppm). N2 and RA1 resulted in very high acceptability index of 95.37 and 94.44 per cent, respectively. The betterorganoleptic parameters of the functional curd may also be due to high lactic acid and exopolysaccharide production by these isolates. Thus, by inoculating riboflavin synthesizing LAB isolates to curd, riboflavin-enriched functional curd with enhanced consumer appeal, can be produced.