A protective effect was observed for LAB as their population was
slightly increased during storage at 22 °C for 7 days when peptone/saline
was used as a suspending medium whereas a slight decrease was
indicated during storage of olives in distilled water (Table 6). LAB population
was reduced during storage at 4 °C in both suspending media
(i.e. peptone/saline or distilled water).
The inhibitory effect of olives fermented by OSC in reduced salt
brines on pathogens investigated is due to the antimicrobial activity of
the phenolic compounds and the antagonistic action of associated microflora.
In the present study a complete microbiological procedure in
table olive processing has been applied for both the debittering
and the fermentation. Thus, the final product was rich in phenolic