From left to right: TAN Jia Jun Shaun, PHUA Jia Yang, TEN Mei Zhen Michelle, Assistant Professor LI Dan, Dr. ZWE Ye Htut
Merit Awardees at the Singapore Science and Engineering Fair (SSEP) 2021
The research team, comprising of students from the Science Research Programme (SRP), Tan Jia Jun Shaun and Phua Jia Yang from Hwa Chong Institution, mentored by Asst Prof Li Dan, Dr Zwe Ye Htut and Ten Mei Zhen Michelle from the Department of Food Science & Technology, clinched the Merit Award at the Singapore Science and Engineering Fair (SSEF) 2021. We would like to congratulate the team for their achievement and thank the mentors who have put in considerable time and effort to mentor the SRP students!
Lactobacillus plantarum 299v
About the project
Home fermentation is amongst the hobbies that have grown in popularity in the advent of COVID-19. Commonly fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut often employ spontaneous fermentation which if prepared inadequately, would pose a food safety risk. In this project, the students studied the potential of a commercially available probiotic, Lactobacillus plantarum 299v, as a starter culture to improve the food safety of fermented products. With microbiology techniques, this strain was found to reduce the growth of undesirable microorganisms, such as yeast, mould and Enterobacteriaceae bacteria in fermented carrot samples. Furthermore, texture and colour analysis tests showed that this treatment showed minimal compromise to the organoleptic properties of the final fermented product. With these findings, Lactobacillus plantarum 299v shows potential as a readily available food safety solution for avid home fermentation hobbyists.
About Science Research Programme (SRP)
SRP enables students from junior colleges and Integrated Programme (IP) schools in Singapore who aspire higher level of challenge to undertake projects under the supervision of academics and scientists in the real research environment.