Nipa sap is a sweet and translucent beverage that originated from nipa palm (Nypa fruticans) tree. In Sarawak, nipa sap become raw material for nipa sugar or locally known as gula apong. However, nipa sap undergoes natural fermentation that alters the properties of nipa sap including taste, aroma and quality. Fermented nipa sap is whitish colour with an unpleasant aroma and taste, which makes it unacceptable for consumption. Hence, it is no longer suitable to make nipa sugar. This study aimed to determine the physicochemical and microbiological changes of nipa palm sap from fresh to fermented. The nipa sap was allowed to undergo natural fermentation at room temperature for 56 days. Samples were collected every 24 hrs for the first week and once a week in the subsequent week. The selected physiochemical qualities were analysed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) whereas the microbial content was analysed using spread plating. Fresh nipa sap showed the highest load of sugar (334.2±12 g/L) with sucrose as the main sugar found (231.5±4.3 g/L), followed by fructose (42.1±1.2 g/L), and glucose (29.7±3.2 g/L). Fresh nipa sap also possessed the lowest load of ethanol (0.08±0.03 g/L), lactic acid (1.09±0.06 g/L), and acetic acid (0.05±0.01 g/L) as well as microbial and yeast concentration. Later, ethanol started to accumulate on day 4 (9.80±0.1 g/L) and the highest peak was on day 21 (19.1±2.01 g/L). The microbial concentration changed as well, affecting the quality of nipa sap. As nipa sap plays such an important role in the lifestyle of people in Sarawak, this study provides a better understanding of the microbiology and biochemistry of its fermentation process. Hence, proper planning for handling fresh nipa sap should be considered to ensure the quality of value-added product production.
Aims: Bacillus cereus is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped and spore-forming bacterium. It is a ubiquitous bacterium which is widely distributed in several environments such as soil and plants and is commonly isolated from food and its processing environment. This study was aimed to determine the genetic diversity and antibiotic resistance of B. cereus isolated from sago processing in Sarawak. Methodology and results: Out of 120 samples, 42 B. cereus isolates were detected with the presence of hly gene of B. cereus by using specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Twenty B. cereus isolates were randomly selected and further characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of chromosomal DNA digested with NotI to examine the genetic diversity. The result of the PFGE analysis confirmed that the B. cereus strains in sago processing were genetically diverse. Based on the dendrogram generated, B. cereus strains were grouped into two major clusters and these clusters were grouped together based on sources of isolation. The investigation on the antibiotic resistance of B. cereus strains revealed that the B. cereus strains were uniformly highly resistant to penicillin and ampicillin and highly susceptible to imipenem and norfloxacin. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: The results of this study suggest that the B. cereus isolated from sago processing derived from a mixture of sensitive and resistant strains with diverse genetic contents.
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