In the food sector, enterprises focus on indicator microorganisms related to their products. For example, the presence and number of lipolytic microorganisms in a butter-producing enterprise is an important quality criterion. In contrast, the presence and number of lipolytic bacteria is of no importance for, for example, fruit juice producing plants. Other types of bacteria are important in fruit juice, causing deterioration and resistant to heat.

Lipolytic microorganisms are found especially in dairy products and break down milk fat, causing unwanted odors and tastes. Lipolytic microorganisms cause deterioration and loss of quality in milk and milk products such as butter, cream, margarine and cheese. Fatty acids are formed by lipid oxidation caused by these microorganisms and food products lose their specific odor. Because lipolytic microorganisms are heat resistant, sterilization or pasteurization processes provide microbial sterility in the product but cannot stop the entire microbial lipase.

Most food products contain significant amounts of lipids. As known, free fatty acids are the most important reason of hydrolysis in these products. At this time, the lipid breaks down and the resulting fatty acids disrupt the specific odor of the product. Microbial lipolysis, which causes loss of quality and deterioration in food, may not always be caused by microorganisms. Lipolysis creates a change in taste and odor in foods, while in foods such as cheese and sausage this is already desirable. That is, the evaluation of lipolysis as a quality factor is an exception here.

Monolayer bulk culture method is generally preferred for lipolytic bacterial counting. Occasionally, two-layer planting is used to improve the recovery of bacteria that are damaged by heat treatment.

 

Bacterial species that exhibit lipolytic activity are: pseudomonas, staphylococcus, alcaligenes and moraxella. Within the scope of microbiological analyzes, studies are carried out in advanced laboratories to determine the number of lipolytic bacteria.