Economic production of probiotics from kitchen waste

In the present work, a novel treatment method of kitchen waste for economic production of probiotics was investigated. This required the selection of suitable probiotic microorganisms. Based on the pure cultures of probiotic strains for the fermentation kitchen waste, 5 strains of microorganisms including 1 strain of Lactobacillus, 2 strains of Bacillus, and 2 strains of yeast were selected, respectively. These probiotic microorganisms were mixed at the same ratio and cultured using the kitchen waste as culture medium at pH of 7.2 and temperature of 37°C. After 24 h, the total count of the viable cells reached 2.24 ×10¹⁰ CFU/g, which was higher than that obtained in any single probiotic strain pure culture. It was found that the presence of yeasts and Bacillus species enhanced the growth of Lactobacillus strain. Bench scale experiments were also done in a self-designed rotating drum type bioreactor. The experimental results indicate that there is a good possibility of utilizing kitchen waste for the economic production of probiotics.