Microbes associated with fermentation of home-made cereal based beverages in Tanzania

Spontaneous fermentation has been used in Tanzania and other African countries for preservation and processing of food for many centuries. Most of the fermented cereal-based beverages in Tanzania lack information on quality aspects and functionality when ingested in the human gut. In addition, and specifically, studies on microflora taking part in the fermentation of locally available cereal beverages in Tanzania are scarce and microbes isolated and identified from such beverages are also limited. An experiment involving culturing, isolation and, morphological, physiological and biochemical characterisation of fermenting microbes from locally made fermented samples of beverages namely Kindi, Kimpumu, Togwa and Mbege originating from Mbeya, Kilimanjaro and Morogoro regions was conducted from January to August 2019. The results revealed that fermentation of Togwa involves activities by L. pentosus, L. brevis, L. plantarum, L. lactis ssp. lactis and C. tropicalis whereas fermentation of Kindi involves activities of P. pentosaceus, Cryptococcus gattii, C. tropicalis and R. minuta. Microbial species taking part in Kimpumu fermentation are L. plantarum, C. zeylanoides, C. albicans, and C. tropicalis and those in Mbege are L. plantarum, C. ciferri, and C. dubliniensis. The presence of probiotic Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) in the four local beverages indicate the potentiality of such beverages as fermented probiotic cereal-based beverages in Tanzania.