SURVEY ON USE OF Lactobacillus plantarum SD ISOLATED FROM NATURALLY FERMENTED COCONUT MILK TO PRODUCE VIRGIN COCONUT OIL BY METHOD OF FERMENTATION

Abstract

Virgin coconut oil (VCO) is an added-value product with high nutritional value, but it has not been widely developed at industrial scale due to high cost. Currently, in Vietnam, virgin coconut oil is mainly produced by manual or physical methods at small scale and the quality is not certified. While in some countries that specialize in VCO production, natural fermentation is often used to produce low-cost VCOs. However, it is difficult to control the natural fermentation and the obtained VCO quality is not uniform. In this study, the production of coconut oil is conducted by induced fermentation with L. plantarum isolated from the naturally fermented coconut milk to produce VCO. The results showed that the use of L. plantarum SD strains isolated from fermentative cultures significantly improved the fermentation efficiency and quality of obtained VCO. The optimal process is achieved at 45 C, pH 5.0 in 24 hours of fermentation and with the culture proportion of 7.8 log/g.

Keywords: Virgin coconut oil, VCO, natural fermentation, Lactobacillus plantarum