In contrast the concentration of I3A was at its maximum (3.6 μmol/100 g FW) in raw shredded cabbage and decreased during fermentation to 0.12 μmol/100 g FW. The decreased content of deleterious compound (I3A) and increased content of beneficial compound (ABG and I3C) during fermentation process is noted. During storage at 4 °C the content of ABG and I3C tend to decrease. However ABG level reached 6.78 μmol/100 g FW by Day 28 and remained constant throughout the storage period. Around 50% loss of ABG content was reported during prolonged storage (Peñas et al., 2013), which is in agreement with our results.
In order to compare the experimental design, the contents of ABG and I3C were measured and the data were compared with four different sauerkrauts, two separately made sauerkrauts from our laboratories namely cv. Storema and cv. Lennox and two other commercial sauerkrauts; the results are depicted in Fig. 5. The commercial sauerkraut-1 showed the highest content of ABG and I3C and the commercial sauerkraut-2 showed the least. The variation among the sauerkrauts may be due to the specific cultivar of white cabbage used to prepare the sauerkraut and its content of glucobrassicin, the precursor of ABG and I3C ( Kushad et al., 1999). This result highlights the importance of the raw materials for good end-products.