Characterization of the Composition and Bacterial Manufacturing Process for Rice Noodles in Cambodia

Fermented rice noodles have been widely eaten in Southeast Asia and southern China for a long time, and are still produced by traditional methods. These noodles are referred to by various names, depending on the country of consumption: khanom-jeen in Thailand (Uchimura et al. 1991; Tanasupawat et al. 1995), bun in Vietnam (Nagano et al. 2000), mohingar in Myanmar (Ikeda et al. 2003), khaw poon in Laos (Kato et al. 2006), num banvuchock in Cambodia (Ikeda et al. 2005b), and soure mifen in China (Lu et al. 2008). According to our field research in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, hard, nonglutinous, and damaged rice, unlike that used for cooking, is used as the base for fermented rice noodles. Production involves a two-step natural fermentation process, rice soaking and rice flour standing, after which the rice flour is extruded into rice noodles and boiled. Although lactic acid bacteria such as Streptococcus and Lactobacillus are reportedly the main microorganisms involved in fermentation (Uchimura et al . 1991; Lu et al. 2008), we confirmed the existence of not only lactic acid bacteria but also aerobic bacteria, mold, yeast, coliform group bacteria, and many kinds of microorganisms in samples collected over a 10-yr period from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand (Ikeda et al. 2003; Kato et al. 2006; Kobayashi et al. 2007). Characterization of the Composition and Bacterial Manufacturing Process for Rice Noodles in Cambodia Masayo IKEDA, Miyuki KATOH, Hiroko NAGANO and Shigeru SAWAYAMA 1 Faculty of Applied Bioscience, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 156-8502 2 Faculty of Education, Kagawa University, Takamatsu, Kagawa 760-8522 3 Faculty of Education, Gifu University, Gifu, Gifu 501-1193