Abstract
Pindang damulag or fermented carabeef is a native traditional food from Pampanga, Philippines. It is produced by mixing thin slices of carabeef with curing ingredients, then storing the mixture in an anaerobic condition, and left through the action of naturally growing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) via fermentation for 1 week at room temperature. However, the practice of production and consumption of pindang damulag is slowly dying and there are only very limited scientific studies on pindang damulag. Therefore, the study aimed to identify the LAB present and determine its contribution to the microbial diversity, physico-chemical properties, and organic acid profile of pindang damulag during natural fermentation. During fermentation, standard serial dilution and plating show that all targeted groups of microorganisms (fungi, common bacteria, coliforms, acid producing bacteria and LAB) grew significantly until the 3rd day. After day 3, only acid producing bacteria and LAB grew significantly. There was also a significant decrease in total soluble solids (TSS) from day 0 to day 3 (30.31 – 28.17°Brix), while titratable acidity (TA) and pH were found to be statistically constant (3.5% at pH 5.97 – 3.6% at pH 5.9). Moreover, significant decrease in TSS (24.89, 22.76, and 20.53°Brix) and pH (5.60, 4.93, and 4.53) were observed, while TA increased significantly (4.5, 5.6, 6.6%) during days 5, 7, and 9. After the culture dependent phenotypic and genotypic tests using 27F and 1492R primer pairs, LAB isolates were found to be homologous to Enterococcus faecium and Weisella paramesenteroides. The former exhibited proteolytic activity on pindang damulag which broke down the protein chains with approximate MW of 20.1KDalton as observed in the acrylamide gel from SDS-PAGE. The other LAB was known to be a heterofermentative LAB, which reflected on the predominance of other organic acids such as citric acid (448.70 mg/100 g), acetic acid (1724 mg/100 g) other than the lactic acid (4440 mg/100 g) alone, using RP-HPLC. Therefore, LAB was found to have a major role in the food safety, food quality and overall profile of pindang damulag.
Highlights
Water buffalo commonly known as carabao is one of the most important domesticated animals in the Philippines, aiding the farmers in plowing the fields, tilling the soil, and other farm duties that require heavy liftings
Based on the regression analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the microbial load of pindang damulag during natural fermentation (Figure 2), all groups of microorganisms showed a significant increase in population from day 0 to day 3
This phenomenon conforms with the results of the microbial analyses, wherein acid producing bacteria and lactic acid bacteria continued to grow significantly while fungi, common bacteria, and presumptive coliforms correspondingly reduced their growth rate from day 3 onwards
Summary
Water buffalo commonly known as carabao is one of the most important domesticated animals in the Philippines, aiding the farmers in plowing the fields, tilling the soil, and other farm duties that require heavy liftings They are abundant in the country, according to the Philippines statistics authority – Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (2019) there were 2.87 million heads in the country as of the 1st quarter of 2019. Many studies have compared beef from carabeef in terms of meat and carcass composition (Lapitan et al, 2008); proximate composition and intramuscular fatty acid profile (Oliveros et al, 2007); sensory characteristics, Esteban et al / Food Research 4 (2) (2020) 312 - 319 physicochemical and nutritional properties (Anjaneyulu et al, 1990). Carabeef can be a cheaper yet competitive alternative/addition to the common carcasses for consumption
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