NUTRITION OF THE HETEROFERMENTATIVE LACTOBACILLI THAT CAUSE GREENING OF CURED MEAT PRODUCTS

Abstract

These organisms require the addition of Mn and citrate for optimum growth, even in complex laboratory media. In a casein-hydrolysate medium they also require thiamine, nicotinic acid, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, biotin, and asparagine. The lag phase may be shortened for some strains by the addition of Tween 80, folic acid, and pyridoxine. The extreme homogeneity in nutritive requirements of strains isolated from products from widely scattered parts of this country is in accord with their homogeneity in physiological and serological characteristics. They would thus appear to constitute a sharply defined species within the ill-defined group of heterofermentative lactobacilli.