Molecular Identification of Dominant Bacteria in Tamba Udang Vaname (Litopenaeus vannamei) Fermentation from North Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

Fermentation is one of the food processing methods involving microbial activity to enhance the quality and shelf `life of food products. Tamba Udang Vaname is a traditional fermented food from North Kalimantan made from shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei), rice and salt, with a fermentation process lasting 14 days. This study was conducted to identify the dominant bacteria involved in the fermentation of Tamba Udang Vaname from North Kalimantan, Indonesia, using molecular-based identification methods. The shrimp were collected in North Kalimantan and then fermented using a traditional local method. After 14 days, bacterial isolation, characterization, and identification using PCR–16S rRNA were performed. The result identified four bacterial isolates, all Gram-positive with coccus morphology (two isolates) and bacillus morphology (two isolates). Sequencing analysis identified isolate E1 and E2 as Staphylococcus epidermidis (99.93% similarity; GenBank: NR_113957.1) and isolate B1 and B2 as Bacillus cereus (99.05% similarity; GenBank: NR_074540.1). In conclusion, Tamba Udang Vaname is dominated by Gram-positive halotolerant bacteria, namely Staphylococcus epidermidis and Bacillus cereus.