Thereafter, viability of the starter organisms in control and tea
yogurts during 42 days of refrigerated storage at 4 C was monitored
weekly. The addition of tea to milk before yogurt fermentation
did not significantly (P 6 0.05) influence the growth and
survival of both streptococci and lactobacilli during production
and subsequent refrigerated storage of yogurts (Fig. 6A). The yogurt
microflora was found to be present at sufficiently high levels
both at the beginning and the end of the six-week storage period.
Legislation in France and many other countries require the presence
of at least 107 yogurt bacteria per gram of yogurt product at
the time of consumption (Anonymous., 2001). Ranging between
8.28 and 9 log CFU/ml, all the counts of streptococci and lactobacilli
largely exceeded this value throughout the entire storage
period