• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.1035-1043
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• 1999

Bacteriocins are natural antimicrobial compounds produced by many microorganisms associated with foods, so that there is currently much interest in their use as food biopreservatives. Goal of this study was to partially evaluate lacticin NK24 as a food biopreservative by showing antimicrobial activity of L. lactis NK24 and lacticin NK24 against food-borne spoilage and pathogenic bacteria, respectively. Lactic acid bacteria NK24 isolated from jeot-gal, Korean fermented fish foods, was tentatively identified as Lactococcus lactis and showed broad spectrum of activity against all of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria tested by deferred method. Bacteriocin production in jar fermenter was detected at the mid-log growth phase, and reached the maximum at the early stationary phase, but decreased after the stationary phase. Lacticin NK24 was partially purified by 75% ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by subsequent dialysis. This partially purified lacticin NK24 showed antimicrobial activity against Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Clostridium perfringens, some bacilli, Listeria monocytogenes, Listeria ivanovii, Sphin-gomonas pausimobilis, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Thus, lacticin NK24 examined in this study show promise as a biopreservative be-cause of their broad spectrum of activity.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.196-199
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• 2003

We investigated the antagonistic effects of two lactococcal bacteriocins, nisin or lacticin NK24, on the growth and the survival of Listeria monocytogenes in vacuum or modified atmosphere-packaged ground beef, Ground beef was inoculated with approximately 3 log colony-forming units (CFU) of L. monocytogenes ATCC 15313 culture per gram of ground beef. Inoculated samples were blended with/without 100 AU/g nisin or lacticin NK24, and subsequently vacuum or modified atmosphere packed at 4$^{\circ}C$. Listeria in the bacteriocin-treated and control samples was subsequently isolated from both vacuum and modified atmosphere packs and enumerated as CFU on Listeria Isolation Agar medium. Microbial counts in ground beef treated with bacteriocin declined steadily, while those of non-treated beef samples increased steadily. The results obtained demonstrate that nisin inhibits the growth of L. monocytogenes more effectively than lacticin NK24 at 100 AU/g. The use of lactococcal bacteriocins, such as nisin or lacticin NK24, in vacuum or modified atmosphere packaging offers a promising approach for eliminating or reducing the risk of L monocytogenes contamination in ground beef.