Identification of interacting mixed cultures of lactic acid bacteria by their exclusion from a model predicting the acidifying activity of non-interacting mixed cultures

A model predicting the acidifying activity of mixed cultures of lactic acid bacteria and based on the lack of interaction between the strains has been investigated to identify interacting cultures. Three mixed cultures with Streptococcus thermophilus TH3 and ST7 and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus LB10 were grown on milk. The acidifying activities of the two mixed cultures TH3/LB10 and TH3/ST7 were predicted accurately by the model, with mean prediction errors of 7.7% and 14.1%, respectively. However, the model underestimated the acidifying activity of the mixed culture ST7/LB10, with a mean prediction error of 43.5%, which provides evidence of positive interaction between the strains ST7 and LB10 during acidification. Received: 26 April 1999 / Received revision: 16 June 2000 / Accepted: 18 June 2000