Safety of the genus Enterococcus and the development of food fermentation starters in Korea: Current status and future steps

摘要

Bacteria of the genus Enterococcus are of importance in food fermentations as well as their use as probiotics in humans and livestock. However, they are also important nosocomial pathogens that cause infections. Some strains are resistant to multipleantibiotics and possess virulence factors. The role of Enterococcus species in disease has raised issues on their safety for use in foods or as probiotics. First, this review summarized the positive and negative traits of Enterococcus spp. to illustratethe controversial nature of this bacterial genus and discussed the current genomic approaches can eliminate pathogenic strains. Then, this review examined the current status of starter development for traditional food fermentations and the regulation onthe approval of novel food microorganisms in Korea to point out problems in the regulation. Based on the conclusions from the studies on Enterococcus spp., we suggested the direction of safety assessment of novel food microorganisms in Korea.