4. Discussion
None of the inoculated pathogens grew in the fermented alcoholic
beverages during storage. The initial population was either
maintained or declined. This suggests that the high alcohol content
(6e7%) and low pH (3.43e3.98) resulted in a harsh environment for
bacterial survival. However, we found that pathogens survived in
some of the products we tested. In particular, B. cereus survived in
non-sterilized Korean turbid rice wine. Turbid rice wine contains
various carbon and nitrogen sources, which favors bacterial survival
(Kim et al., 2011; Suzuki, Asano, Iijima, & Kitamoto, 2008). In
addition, turbid rice wine contains a lot of solid matter, which sinks
to the bottom of the bottle over time. This sediment may protect
the bacteria from the otherwise stressful environment, as it is much
more difficult to eliminate bacteria from solids than from liquids
(Kim, Lee, Park, & Rhee, 2012).