Bacterial diversity of baechu - kimchi with seafood based on culture-independent investigations .

Baechu - kimchi is a traditional Korean dish of fermented vegetables, in which kimchi cabbage is the major ingredient. Seafood is added to baechu - kimchi in coastal areas, giving this dish regional diversity. However, little is known about how the addition of seafood affects the bacterial diversity of kimchi . Therefore, in this study, the bacterial diversity of five varieties of baechu - kimchi with seafood and one variety of baechu - kimchi without seafood was analyzed using culture-independent techniques. In 81.7% of all kimchi analyzed, the predominant species were members of the phylum Firmicutes and the lactic acid bacteria, Latilactobacillus sakei , Leuconostoc mesenteroides , Pediococcus inopinatus , and Weissella koreensis . These organisms were similar to those identified in baechu - kimchi without the addition of seafood, which was used as a control group, and bacterial community of previously reported kimchi . Therefore, the results of this study confirmed that the addition of seafood did not significantly affect the bacterial community in baechu - kimchi .