NABDA’s Breakthrough In Yoghurt Starter Culture Production

By Michael Jegede

The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), an agency of Government under the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, with the mandate to conduct, promote, co-ordinate and deploy cutting edge biotechnology research for Nigeria’s economic growth and development, appears to have made a remarkably significant breakthrough in the production of yoghurt starter culture.

Yoghurt, prepared with starter culture containing Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, is a fermented milk product widely consumed as a healthy and nutritious food globally. Starter cultures are a vital component of industrial food fermentation. In yoghurt production, the starter culture help in the fermentation of lactose (milk sugar) to produce lactic acid, thereby decreasing the pH and causing the milk protein to coagulate, forming the soft gel and giving rise to specific flavour, aroma and texture that are typical of yoghurt.

Starter cultures with the organisms used in the production of yoghurt, which seems to be the best known of all cultured dairy products and the most common around the world, are increasingly imported by developing countries including Nigeria at high cost. Therefore, in a bid to reduce dependence on importation, the Federal Government (FG) had tasked NABDA to engage in research that will see to the production of yoghurt starter culture locally, using indigenous microorganisms to take care of local needs and enhance the country’s economy.

After about five years of research work following FG’s directive, NABDA has eventually succeeded in locally producing a starter culture for the preparation of yoghurt with the two germs, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, sourced from our own environment.

As a way of carrying along those in the yoghurt production industry and the regulatory body, the Food and Industrial Biotechnology (FIB) Department of NABDA recently organised a one-day stakeholder meeting held at the agency’s headquarters, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The stakeholder forum was designed to unveil samples of the NABDA’s domestically produced starter culture and the yoghurt prepared with it to participants and seek their inputs.

In his welcome address at the stakeholder meeting, the Director General/Chief Executive Officer (DG/CEO) of NABDA, Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, ably represented by the Director of FIB Dept, Dr. Lawan Suleiman, while thanking the participants including NAFDAC, a key regulator of food and drug in Nigeria, for honouring the agency’s invitation, said: “This one-day forum will focus on two important activities on the agenda, there will be a session to present and explain the issues under consideration by the Yoghurt Starter culture project team. There will also be a session for the solicitation of input and identification of possible areas of partnership, investment and collaboration from all invited stakeholders.”

Mustapha, a Professor of Chemistry, who is said to have been working tirelessly round the clock, to transform and reposition NABDA, for better performance since he assumed office as the agency’s helmsman, further stated: “I would like to appreciate the efforts of the Director and staff of the Food and Industrial Biotechnology Department (FIB) for hosting this stakeholder meeting, so that we have opportunity to consult with other players in the milk industry and the public on their views and concerns over Yoghurt Starter Culture Project as well as to identify better engagement and more effective assessment approach for the upscale and the commercialization of this novel research product. The knowledge, information, data collected from this gathering will also aid the acceptability of this product when released.”

Noting that NABDA was trying its best to support the ongoing efforts of government in ensuring sustainable human development in food, healthcare, environment and industry, he added: “I do believe that with our cooperation and the Nigerian spirit, together, we can provide meaningful support to the yoghurt starter culture project so that we can reach optimum use of this research product and block leakage of our foreign exchange.”

Earlier in his opening remarks as the Head of the FIB Dept, Dr. Suleiman said: “As an agency of government, the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) is embodied in the spirit of national development as represented in the various research endeavours carried out by key departments in the agency. The Food and Industrial Biotechnology Department is not left out of this development drive and has carried out extensive research through the yoghurt starter culture project in line with the resolve of the government to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable and human-centred development. As we approach the end of the yoghurt starter culture project, it is time to make a final push for accelerated deployment of our research product hence this stakeholders meeting.

“It is important to note that before the research team arrived at this product, Five-hundred and Twenty-Three (523) discrete Lactic acid Bacteria were isolated, characterized biochemically and screened from some fermented indigenous milk products using microbiological procedures and out of this number, Nine of the bacteria strains (Five Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Four Streptococcus thermophilus) were thereafter identified to have functional and technological criteria for high quality yoghurt production.

“The uniqueness of these NABDA isolates which include: high acidification activity, coagulative and aroma production abilities provide avenue for investors, collaborators and partners to come on board to make NABDA’s vision of making yoghurt starter culture a major foreign exchange earner a reality.”

Giving an overview of the yoghurt starter culture project, a Deputy Director who is the Head Product Development Unit of the FIB Dept, Dr. Olukotun Debo, said: “The yoghurt is a product of milk fermentation. You know that by way of dairy expansion more facilities are being provided by the government, having more cows and the rest of them. We are producing more milk but this milk go bad, it is a question of three hours after milking. There is something we call spontaneous fermentation. That is, whether you intentionally ferment it or not, some germs will enter and produce acid that makes it to sour just like we have nono and the rest of them. It will sour. But this souring is not yoghurt. You need certain types of germs that will do the fermentation, that will live in the milk and convert the lactose which is the milk sugar (to lactic acid).

“These two organisms are called Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. Although there are other bacteria germs that could be used like Lactobacillus acidophilus, the first two are the commonly used types. Currently we import them from other countries for yoghurt production. We import from far away Europe, America or Canada. The closest to us is South Africa. But we noticed that because of the difference in their temperature (climatic conditions) from ours, the one we import does not work well for us. That is number one. And then the money that is spent for importation. That is number two. Then number three is that most countries, particularly the developing countries, are looking inward, what can we get from our own locality to enhance our own economy instead of importing? You know the rate at which people are consuming yoghurt is getting higher. Milk contains lactose and that lactose can cause stomach irritation (lactose intolerant). But when you convert to yoghurt that lactose is broken down by the germs. That is why you add the germs. Those two germs (Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus) work together in a synergy. It’s a combination – they must be together for yoghurt to be formed. They break down the lactose. So that when you take yoghurt, you can take two litres without it affecting you because the lactose is no longer there – or at least minimal.”

Continuing, he added: “The fact is that we actually got the two germs from the environment and that is why it is indigenous. We got it from fermented milk. It is not toxic because we sourced it from nono, a fermented product. All the laboratory works showed that they are not pathogenic. Arriving at this step we have been able to get the organisms in a freeze-dried form, that people can now use to make their yoghurt, and even travel to villages where there is no storage facilities yet they won’t go bad.”

Speaking on the safety of the product for consumption, Dr. Debo explained that “Different kinds of microorganisms does the fermentation of nono. But we have selected two germs out of the many that are doing the fermentation of nono. From all the procedures, from the beginning to the end, it is safe. My director made mention of GRAS. GRAS simply means Generally Recognised As Safe (GRAS). Those two organisms or germs are in the GRAS family. Any organism that is in the GRAS family is safe.”

After tasting the yoghurt prepared with the locally produced starter culture, participants at the forum hailed NABDA for the great innovation and advancement. Everyone who spoke admired the product and urged the research agency to continue with its good work in the application of modern biotechnology for the promotion of the country’s economic progress.

The stakeholders were made to understand that the marketing of the yoghurt starter culture shall be done by them and not NABDA, after the official release of the product, consequent upon FG’s final approval and completion of registration process with NAFDAC, as the agency was only meant to spearhead the production.