Production of the fermented foods mageu and yoghurt using isolated Lactobacillaceae species for the improvement of vaginal health

Mageu and yoghurt are investigated for their potential as probiotic delivery vehicles. Previously isolated <em>Lactobacillaceae </em>strains from the genital tracts of healthy South African women are tested for their ability to ferment maize meal to mageu and milk to yoghurt, both as pure cultures and supplemented with traditionally-used microorganisms: <em>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</em> for mageu and <em>Streptococcus thermophilus</em> for yoghurt. During production, fermentation was monitored by measuring pH. After fermentation, the products were analysed by measuring titratable acidity, lactic acid and ethanol concentrations, total solids content, viable cell counts, qualitative analysis and shelf-life. Four mageu samples were then analysed for their consumer acceptability by an untrained consumer panel. <br> The data provided is linked to the thesis published on Open UCT. The data is used in specifically the Results and Discussion sections (Sections 4 and 5) for mageu and yoghurt production and analysis. The link to access the thesis is (insert link here).