Microflora of traditional starter made from cassava for “attiéké” production in Dabou (Côte d’Ivoire)

Attiéké is a food made from cassava in Côte d’Ivoire by fermentation. The process uses a traditional starter. Studies on 81 starter samples from 3 villages showed that the dominant microflora consists of lactic acid bacteria (5.7 × 107 cfu/g), yeasts (5.5 × 107 cfu/g), Bacillus (3.8 × 107 cfu/g), Enterococcus (3.0 × 106 cfu/g), total coliforms (3.0 × 106 cfu/g), thermotolerant coliforms (8.0 × 103 cfu/g) and mould (2.0 × 106 cfu/g). Lactic acid bacteria, Bacillus spp, yeasts, faecal Enterococci and moulds are organisms which could play a role in the cassava fermentation. Coliforms may indicate contamination from the environment during production.