Investigation of the microbiota associated with traditionally produced fruit vinegars with focus on acetic acid bacteria and lactic acid bacteria

The microbiological properties of traditionally produced fruit vinegars, i.e., fig, mulberry, apple and plum vinegars, supplied from different cities in Turkey were investigated. The counts of acetic acid bacteria (AAB), lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and mold - yeast for fruit vinegars were found in the range of 2.54–7.05, 1.91–6.81 and 1.32–7.10 log CFU/mL, respectively. The indigenous AAB and LAB isolates were recovered from the vinegars and characterized based on a combination of phenotypic and genotypic approaches including 16S rRNA gene sequencing. In AAB three different species, Acetobacter pasteurianus, A. ghanensis and A. fabarum, and in LAB five species, Lacticaseibacillus paracasei, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Levilactobacillus brevis, Leuconostoc sp. and Weisella confusa were identified in the vinegar samples. It was the first study reporting the identification of A. fabarum and Leuconostoc sp., which were isolated from fig vinegar. The results of the study showed that A. pasteurianus and L. paracasei were predominant species found in vinegar samples. The study provides potential strains which may be used as starter cultures in food industry.