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The use of a modified ninhydrin reagent using ascorbic acid instead of potassium cyanide was investigated for the photometric determination of amino acids. It has been found possible to obtain an almost stoichiometric reaction for glutamic acid with a quantitative yield of "Ruhemann's purple", the end-product of the reaction, using ascorbic acid as a safe and economical reducing agent. The modified ninhydrin reagent was composed of 0.5 g of ninhydrin, and 15 mg of ascorbic acid in 60 ml of methyl cellosolve.

Lactobacillus brevis IFO-12005 showed good growth in rice shochu distillery lees (kome shochu kasu). Almost all of the free glutamic acid (10.50 mM) in shochu kasu was converted to gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA) within 2 d of stationary culture at 30 degrees C. The amount of GABA in the kome shochu kasu medium finally reached 10.18 mM. After centrifugation of the broth culture, the supernatant fraction was treated with a flocculation agent to form a clear solution, then passed through a column containing a synthetic adsorbents, SP-207 to remove the yellow pigment and flavors which are unnecessary from a sensory perspective. An economical and simple production process for GABA was established.

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