Abstract: Lactobacillus plantarum W-4 was used as a starter culture for the fermentation of chopped pepper and spontaneous fermentation was also performed as a control. The results obtained indicated that lactic acid bacteria dominated the fermentation process, and the pH of chopped pepper inoculated with L. plantarum W-4 was lower than that of spontaneous fermentation. The chopped pepper fermented with L. plantarum W-4 had higher numbers of lactic acid bacteria and colony count than spontaneous fermentation. The count and changing trend of yeast in the spontaneous fermentation were similar to those of inoculated fermentation, and?coliform?bacteria were present only in the early stage of fermentation but died at the later stage. The analysis of organic acids indicated that the chopped pepper fermented with the starter culture maintained higher content of lactic acid, while spontaneous fermentation had higher content of citric acid and malic?acid; acetic acid was present only in the early stage of spontaneous fermentation.

Key words: Lactobacillus plantarum W-4, chopped pepper, microflora, organic acids