Marketing

New directions: revolutionizing learning in the baking
industry
The Authors
Paul Davis, Training and Development Manager, Bakers Delight Holdings Pty
Ltd, Wyong, Australia
Acknowledgements
© Paul James Davis
Abstract
Bakers have a demanding, very “hands-on” job. Persuading them to attend college for training and to
acquire qualifications is not easy. This paper outlines the problems and shows steps taken by one
particular Australian franchise baking operation to address these problems. Suggests that there are
relatively simple steps that can be taken to ensure that the needs of the franchisor, the franchisees,
the colleges and the bakers themselves can be met simultaneously.
Article Type:
Viewpoint
Keyword(s):
Training; Education; Franchising; Bakery products.
Journal:
Work Study
Volume:
52
Number:
Year:
2003
pp:
355-357
ISSN:
0043-8022
Baking is a demanding trade. The hours are unsociable, the environment is hot and noisy and the
work is physically draining. It has always been a challenge to provide quality training to bakers
because their working conditions are not conducive to standard teaching methodologies – the nature
of the work means that training must be integrated into working practices. It is particularly difficult to
blend work and study for bakers in small franchised retail bakeries because of the nature of
franchising. Franchisees are small business people whose primary goal is profit and, because of the
nature of the product, this requires constant attention from the baker: if bakers can bake then
additional learning is not a business priority.
However, the franchisor – who wishes the franchisee to add to the overall reputation of the franchised
name – is seeking consistency above all. This demands adherence to particular working practices,
and training and development fosters this. If bakers continue to learn, and improve the quality of the
products/service they provide, they continue to strengthen the brand name of the franchise through
their efforts.
In a large franchise system such as Bakers Delight Holdings, there are training consultants. These
consultants must enforce the priorities of their employer, the franchisor, while meeting the needs of
their clients, the franchisees, and promote the best interests of their learners, the bakers. The difficulty
is in pleasing all three simultaneously when they each hold conflicting views of what work-related
learning means to them. The great challenge of being a training consultant for a franchisor is meeting
the expectations of three key stakeholders so that each believes that their specific needs are your
priority. In the baking industry this requires some creative thinking because of the nature of the work
the learners are engaged in. This paper provides some ideas on how to manage work and study when
the students work shifts or permanent “unsocial hours”.
Research conducted through the Faculty of Education, at Deakin University found, that over 50 per
cent of bakery franchisees preferred to train their bakers themselves rather than send them to
technical college (Davis, 2003). Further investigation found that franchisees believed that employee
absence from the bakery was too costly and that technical college was perceived as outdated and
irrelevant to their businesses.
Franchisees indicated that they felt their bakers picked up “bad habits” at college which then had to be
addressed once they returned to work. If employers begin to retreat from nationally-recognised and
industry-benchmarked training, then employees, training providers, and industry could pay a high
price. Young people will find themselves without valuable qualifications, industries will become “de-
skilled” and less attractive to investors and job seekers and training providers could find themselves
out of business.
In partnership with technical colleges offering baking apprenticeships, we have negotiated some
major changes to the way technical colleges have traditionally delivered baking training. The college
campus at Ultimo, in central Sydney, Australia, now has a “Centre of Excellence”, which is a self-
sufficient baking unit sponsored by our company. Bakers still attend the college and graduate with
their trade qualification but they train in a simulated environment which mirrors the retail bakeries they
work in. The Centre of Excellence uses only our company’s recipes, practices and ingredients with the
same equipment and methods used in the bakeries.
The Ultimo campus has had increased enrolments from our franchised outlets and franchisees
consistently praise the initiative as better meeting the needs of their businesses. It has allowed
company training consultants to have better access to the college and has fostered strong working
partnerships between the college and the company. The franchisees of Sydney are now happier to
send their bakers to gain recognised qualifications, as the training is specific to the needs of their
businesses.
However, rural franchisees cannot benefit from the Sydney venture to the same extent as
metropolitan franchisees. Due to the expense of establishing the centre, which could not be feasibly
recreated elsewhere, it was necessary to develop other strategies which better served, in particular,
rural franchises. The Hamilton technical college campus at Newcastle, in New South Wales, services
a large area of the state. For many bakers a day is lost in study and the associated travel to the
campus and the period away from work is a disincentive to many franchisees to send bakers to
undertake their apprenticeship. Establishing the model adopted at Ultimo was too costly but doing
nothing was to invite inevitable claims of special treatment for city franchisees from the rural
operators. In conjunction with the baking head teacher, our company has negotiated a range of
changes to the mode of delivery for the baking apprenticeship.
A system of supported work-based learning programs has been designed to move more of the
learning activities from the campus to the bakery. The franchisees will benefit by having their staff in
the bakery more and at college less. In addition, the franchisees are becoming an integral part of the
learning process. The program still teaches the theory component at college but the practical tasks
and assignments will now be completed in the bakery integrated within the usual working day. The
college will also use the time that this makes available to their staff to visit the bakers in their
workplaces and conduct assessments in a real environment. For the first time, franchisees will spend
time with the college instructors. It is anticipated that this new dialogue will facilitate greater
understanding between the parties and will provide for an enhanced learning environment for the
bakers. It is also likely to increase the number of franchisees willing to send their bakers to technical
college. The first trials of this initiative are being conducted this semester at the college.
The projects at Ultimo and Hamilton are expected to overcome one of the identified barriers to
franchisees sending their bakers to college: franchisees perceiving college as too costly, outdated and
irrelevant to their businesses. However, our training department also recognised the need to change
the way we support bakers completing apprenticeships in the services we provide the franchisees.
Baking staff typically work from between midnight and nine am while training consultants typically only
begin work at nine am. Generally we would meet bakers after they had just finished a long shift and
we had just woken up: a formula that generated the results one might expect.
The training department has since introduced flexible working hours for consultants so that daytime
training courses could be facilitated in the evenings and morning meetings could be conducted during
rather than after a baker’s working day. The result has been that more bakers attend training and that
support meetings in the mornings are more productive in terms of the learning that takes place. The
department has recently released a fully revised set of learner resources which focuses more on
demonstration than written tasks for assessment activities. The resources are now on CD which
makes them more portable and accessible, particularly where bakeries have computers on-site.
Currently, distance learning and e-learning packages are being examined which will assist bakers to
adapt the requirements of learning programs to suit their working hours.
Perhaps the most significant initiative of the company’s training department has been the focus on
empowering the franchisee to become a learning coach for their staff. By running training sessions for
franchisees it is hoped they will adopt the role of training advisor for their bakers. This will allow
training consultants to have fewer individuals to liaise with as one franchisee could have five or six
apprentices in the bakery. Franchisees will also become an important part of the learning process and
this “policy of inclusion” may well break down some of their resistance to investing in the ongoing
development of their bakers.
The initiatives outlined in this paper are in their infancy and the full benefits, as well as problems, are
not obvious yet. What can be said is that early reviews of the programs are showing positive results.
There appears already to be some kind of reconciliation of views concerning the function and course
of work-based learning. It seems that with some creative thinking it is possible for the franchisee,
franchisor, training provider and baker to all have their expectations met without compromising on
ongoing learning and development.
Reference
Davis, P. (2003), "Company culture in a franchise business system: Bakers Delight", Deakin
University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia., unpublished paper, .
portance of appropriate marketing strategies for
sustainability of small businesses in a developing
country
Case of bakery chains of Kolkata, India
The Authors
Kalyan Sengupta, Department of IT and Systems, ICFAI Business School, Salt

Lake City, Kolkata, India
Atish Chattopadhyay, Department of Marketing, ICFAI Business School, Salt

Lake City, Kolkata, India
Abstract
Purpose – The study is designed to explore the importance of appropriate marketing strategies for
sustainability of small firms in India, a developing economy.
Design/methodology/approach – A framework based on accepted definition of marketing strategy

was developed which could notionally evaluate the appropriateness of marketing strategies and its
impact on the market position of the firms. The framework was tested on a set of small scale bakery
firms operating in the city of Kolkata. The marketing mix of the firms was studied through case study
method. A customer survey was conducted to measure the firms’ market offerings with respect to their
target segment. For this, data were collected from 546 consumers and analyzed using multivariate
techniques.
Findings – It was observed that the firms, which could align their market offerings with respect to the
target segment, achieved higher performance.
Research limitations/implications – The framework used was easy and simple to comprehend. The
only two input components required were the marketing mix elements and a corresponding survey to
understand customer perceptions. The interpretation of appropriateness, which is reactive in nature, is
important, particularly for small firms where marketing is mostly informal, unplanned, relies on intuition
and differs from that of large companies. The marketing mix elements were composed through
qualitative observations and interviews only. Further research may be undertaken to refine the same
in future.
Originality/value – The current research addresses the issue of interpreting the appropriateness of
marketing strategy adopted by a set of small firms.
Article Type:
Research Paper
Keyword(s):
Marketing strategy; Small enterprises; Sustainable development; Developing countries; India.
Journal:
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics

Volume:
18
Number:
Year:
2006
pp:
328-341
Copyright ©
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN:
1355-5855
1. Introduction
In recent years there have been signs of substantial research interest in marketing practices of SMEs
(Gillmore et al., 2001; Blankson and Stokes, 2002; Hill, 2001; Siu, 2000; Siu et al., 2004; Morrison,
2003; Leeet al., 2001). Most of these studies have indicated the role of marketing to be critical in the
sustainability of the small firms. In a study of Australian small firms, (Huang and Brown, 1999) the
problems of sales and marketing were reported as important by 40 per cent of the firms surveyed
while other important factors reported were human resources (15 per cent), general management (14
per cent) and production/operations (9 per cent). In India, a survey by the All India Management
Association among 872 SSI (Small Scale Industry) units pointed out that in manufacturing, growth fell
by 8.1 per cent in 1998-2002. One of the main reasons cited by the units for not being able to do well
was problems related to marketing (70 per cent) (Jain, 2003).
However, many recent studies focus on marketing practices of the SMEs with the following findings.
According to researchers, SMEs cannot do conventional marketing because of the limitations of
resources which are inherent to all SMEs. Also, SME owner/managers behave and think differently
from conventional marketing decision-making practices in large companies (Gillmore et al., 2001).
Marketing practices within the UK small business sector identified three key issues (management/staff
relationship, profitability and changing markets) emphasized by owner managers (Blankson and
Stokes, 2002). An assessment of marketing practices among African and Caribbean small businesses
in London revealed the patchy application of an adapted market orientation framework. Interestingly
enough, it also indicated “informal” marketing deliberations taking place and that marketing in the
small business sector seemed to be an informal and unplanned activity that relies on the intuition and
energy of the owner-manager (Blankson and Omar, 2002). A study of 57 SMEs in Ireland and UK
between 1995 and 1999 sought to identify the key determinants of SMEs marketing activities. It
revealed that sales orientation of SMEs is what determines their marketing character. In the study,
marketing practice and decisions were also characterized by significant usage of personal contact
networks. The marketing decisions were ostensibly operational in character, became strategic and
eventually effected strategic change in the marketing practices of the SMEs (Hill, 2001).
Marketing practices of small firms in the developing economy of China have been experienced to be
somewhat different from those in developed countries like UK (Siu, 2000). According to Siu, British
small firms are more customer-driven compared to Chinese small firms. Also, Chinese small firms
perceive marketing as sales function and an order getting activity. Some of the high performing small
firms, as experienced by Siu, place marketing in a leading position of corporate planning, set
aggressive marketing objectives and undertake some in-house research to collect information. In the
recent researches of Siu et al., it was observed that higher performing Taiwanese SMEs were still
sales oriented and made less use of strategic planning tools although they were quite aware of those
tools (Siu et al., 2004).
Ratnatunga and Romano (1995) explored the role of marketing in the development of small enterprise
research through examination of 42 marketing related studies of small firm settings. They identified
and discussed three major research thrusts from the literature as – marketing as a culture, marketing
as a strategy and marketing as a tactics. Kirby and Siu (1998) provided a critical review of researches
into the role and processes of marketing in small firms and attempted to classify the earlier studies.
They identified four approaches, namely the stages/growth model; the management styles model; the
marketing as a management function model and contingency model.
It was observed that majority of the studies focus on organizational factors leading to the market
responsiveness and marketing strategies. There has been, however, limited scope in these
researches to explore the relative merits or appropriateness of marketing strategies adopted by the
firms. This may be of particular significance for small firms since their marketing activities are mostly
unplanned, informal and relies on intuition. Thus the importance of appropriateness of marketing
strategies needs to be investigated especially in case of small firms. The current research addresses
the issue of interpreting the appropriateness of marketing strategy adopted by a small firm.
Objective of this paper is to study the appropriateness of marketing strategies of small firms in India,
developing economy. For this purpose, a framework was developed and it was tested on a group of
small firms in the city of Kolkata, India.
2. Background and framework
A number of studies have indicated that higher market orientation leads to better business
performance (Kohli and Jaworski, 1993; Narver and Slater, 1990; Greenley, 1995; Pitt et al.,
1996; Ruekert, 1992). Market orientation refers to organization wide generation of market intelligence,
dissemination of the intelligence across departments and organization wide responsiveness to it
(Kohli and Jaworski, 1990). In contrast,Narver and Slater (1990) viewed market orientation as a set of
organizational behaviors that were aimed at three groups (customers, competitors and the
organization itself), with emphasis on target groups. Both the conceptualizations were an outcome of
the marketing concept (Borch, 1957; McKitterick, 1957), the objective of which was to create a
satisfied customer base and improved profitability. However, majority of these studies have been
conducted in large organizations even though it is now recognized that SMEs are unique and that
scaled down large business models may not be suitable for them (Kwaku, 1997).
While the underlying marketing concept has been accepted for several decades (Drucker, 1954), its
operationalisation has been difficult, with a result that marketing concept has remained an
organizational philosophy of business, rather than a strategic tool (Venkatesan, 2000). Researchers
like Gronroos (1990) and Gummesson (1987) take a broader perspective of marketing and advocate
that customer relationship ought to be the focus and dominant paradigm of marketing.
On the other hand, many marketing researchers have broadly argued “marketing strategy” to be a
concept built on robust platform of segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) (Kotler,
2005; Ferrell et al., 2002;Walker et al., 2001; Perreault and McCarthy, 2002).
Marketing strategy requires decisions about the specific customers that the firm aims to target and
marketing mix the firm may develop to appeal to that target market by positioning it suitably in a
superior way (Kotler, 2005). In this context, the study of the effectiveness of the marketing tools is
essential for an appropriate marketing strategy. The appropriateness of the marketing strategy may
be judged by assessing the difference between the customer's perception of the market and the firm's
market offering (Perreault and McCarthy, 2002; Cravens, 1997).
Marketing literature has talked much about evaluation and control of business strategies as a whole
and marketing strategy in particular, but many researchers like Heracleous (2003) and others
admitted that it is an extremely difficult task to realize strategic plans even with most sophisticated
analysis and planning. Drummond and Ensor (2001) clearly spelt out success and failure of marketing
strategies in the light of execution skills and appropriateness of the strategies. The successful
strategies are only those, which are subject to good execution skills and appropriateness of the
strategy.
It is interesting that researchers have recently attempted to measure marketing productivity. Roland et
al. (2004) proposed a framework for assessing marketing productivity. The central problem addressed
in their research was how non-financial measures of marketing effectiveness drive the financial
performance measures such as sales, profits and shareholder value in both short and long run. The
paper was organized around the chain of marketing productivity. The framework included elements of
strategies, such as product, promotion, channel, etc. and tactical actions such as service
improvements, advertising, etc. According to the framework, such strategies and tactics would impact
brand equity, customer satisfaction, and so on, achieving desired objectives like, market share and
sales. It may be observed that the central construct of the above framework revolved round the
outcome of the designed marketing mix.
Appropriateness of marketing strategies, as argued earlier, may be viewed as the congruence of

market offerings of a set of products and services and its corresponding consumer perception
amongst its target segment. More the target segment is able to understand and believe the cues
(Richardson et al., 1994) communicated by the firms through marketing mix, more is the effectiveness
of the marketing strategies.
Marketing strategy has been viewed as any feasible combination of decisions relating to the
components of the marketing mix (Cook, 1983). One may argue that, in spite of many advances in
marketing thoughts and conceptualization, including broadening of marketing concept (1970s),
emphasis on the exchange transaction (1980s), and most recently, the development of Relationship
Marketing and Total Quality Management (1990s), McCarthy's core concept has remained quite
robust (Yudelson, 1999). van Waterschoot and Van den Bulte (1992) evaluated the 4P classification
based on the criteria proposed by Hunt (1983) and proposed an improved classification broadening
the concept of promotion into communication mix and promotion mix.
Based on the above literature, we propose a framework to test the appropriateness of marketing
strategies (Figure 1).
The framework is based on widely accepted definition of marketing strategy which is built on STP.
The specific customer segment a firm aims to target and developing a marketing mix to appeal to that
target market by way of suitable positioning in a superior way. We have taken marketing mix as the
basic input, since it is the mixture of elements useful in pursuing a certain market response. However,
we have assumed communication mix and promotion mix as constituents of promotion. An
appropriate marketing strategy would mean alignment of the target customer's perception with the
cues delivered by the marketing mix. The framework attempts to estimate the gap between the two for
each of the firms and notionally evaluate the appropriateness of marketing strategies. It may be
further suggested that the appropriateness of marketing strategy would be reflected positively in the
market position of the firm in terms of market share, sales growth etc. (Roland et al., 2004).
3. Methodology
The framework discussed above was described and explained empirically by using a number of small
business firms of similar nature. Our approach was comparative in nature. The steps adopted in our
study were as follows:
 identification of the firms under study;

 study of background of the firms;
 study of marketing mix of the firms and their target segments;
 customer survey to measure perception of the firms’ market offerings;
 interpretation of appropriateness of marketing strategies of individual firm;
 impact of appropriateness on market performance for individual firm.
In step 1, we looked for a homogenous market in the city of Kolkata, which was dominated by small
firms and important in terms of growth and opportunity. The steps 2 and 3 were mostly case studies
and were qualitative in nature, covered by observations, personal interviews and examination of
internal reports. In the step 4, we were concerned about the customer perception with respect to the
market offerings. For this purpose, a customer survey was conducted. A questionnaire was designed
for the purpose of extracting information on the following:
 customer characteristics of respondents;

 general characteristics of the market;
 ratings of a number of selected parameters to evaluate customer's perception on a five-point
scale.
Also, level of importance for such individual parameter was collected on a five point scale. In step 5,
we carried out exercises to identify the market segments, if any, by using some simple parameters.
Then, for each of the segments, customer perception profile was constructed for all the firms, by way
of a two dimensional positioning map, one indicating the perceived overall quality and the other the
perceived value for money, indicated by the respondents in the questionnaire. The overall quality
factors in our case were derived through factor analysis technique. The positioning maps were then
examined in a qualitative way to judge the appropriateness of the marketing strategies of firms. The
appropriateness of the marketing strategy was thus interpreted. In step 6, we studied the market
share and sales growth of the firms, through internal reports, outlet surveys and interviewing the
management of the firms. Finally, the market position in terms of market share and sales growth was
interpreted in the light of appropriateness of marketing strategies of individual firm.
The bakery sector in India was reserved by the government for small businesses. One of the
measures of the policy support for promoting small businesses in India was the policy of
reservation[1]. The policy environment for Indian industry in the 1990s underwent an array of changes
from broad-based domestic economic reforms launched in 1991, leading to a series of reforms in
industrial and trade policies. The Indian Government decided to introduce de-reservation in a phased
manner in the recent past.
As a result of de-reservation, significant inflow of large organizations may be expected, which might
lead to increased competition. Thus, it was important to study small firms under any of such de-
reserved sectors and the bakery sector was chosen for the purpose of our study.
A set of small scale bakery firms, operating in the city of Kolkata were chosen, namely MN, SS, KT,
BS, KJ, UC and JJ (names camouflaged).
They sell a wide range of bakery products like breads, cakes, gateaux, pastries, salted savories, etc.
There are around 250 bake shops catered by these firms, which are located usually near market
places and important junctions. The firms used their own names to brand their range of products
(Table I).
Typical marketing mix of the firms was studied through case study method. The case studies were
developed based on business reports and direct interviews with top level managers/owners of the
firms based on their perception of the target segment and competition. Also, the market offerings of
the firms were studied by way of shop visits, collection of product catalogs, price lists and promotional
materials like advertisements.
The consumer survey was based on simple random sampling. Target population was those who
bought products from branded bake shops in the city of Kolkata. Sampling frame chosen for the
purpose was the phone directory of Kolkata Telephones. 2,812 phone numbers were selected at
random (computer generated random numbers were used) from the list. 701 calls did not respond.
Out of 2,111, only 1,335 qualified for the survey and we made a note of members’ names (those who
normally made purchase of bakery products) and the monthly household income. It was observed that
such bakery products were consumed mostly by relatively middle and high income groups of the city.
In the second stage, those 1,335 respondents were considered valid as buyers of bakery products
from branded bake shops. These respondents were approached and from which 578 agreed to be
interviewed. Finally, 546 respondents filled in the questionnaire, which was the sample size. Through
the questionnaire, an attempt was made to gather facts about the most recent purchase and
perception of products and services of various brands the respondents were aware of. As far as the
scale for measuring the perception of the brands was concerned, a pilot survey was conducted to
identify the parameters. In the pilot survey, a set of 12 parameters was given to respondents and only
Nine parameters were found to be suitable for the purpose. These were convenient location, shop
décor and ambience, service, food quality, availability of a wide variety, reputation of brand, portion
size and freshness. Value for money, a price - perceived quality trade off (Livesey and Lennon, 1978)
was identified as another distinct parameter.
4. Results and discussions
4.1. Marketing mix of the firms
The marketing mix of the firms, as described in the framework was investigated with the following
observations. The products of the firms under study were observed with respect to their meaning and
direction (Kapferer, 2003). KJ products were found synonymous with exquisite craftsmanship, taste
and innovation. MN, on the other hand, was associated with affordable snacks for regular
consumption.
It was observed that KT's success in the early 1990s was owing to its product innovations and its
effort to popularize celebration cakes. However, with the passage of time, it failed to come up with
new innovations and moved into popular snacks by arbitrarily expanding the retail network. The other
brands like BS and UC could not come up with any signature product which could differentiate them;
most of their products were an imitation of KJ. All of JJ products were commonly available.
All the brands in this study were small businesses having limited funds. Their shops, be it owned or
franchised, were the best option for advertisements. Since majority of the shops in the chain were
franchised (as observed in the study), management of franchisees was crucial in the implementation
of marketing strategies.
It was observed that MN shops were uniform in terms of décor and effectively used the frontage of the
store by installing prominent signage. It used in-shop promos, like posters which were hung inside the
shops. Also, festive promotions were undertaken occasionally. MN aimed to use its shops to create
brand image. SS attempted to replicate the MN model. JJ's shops lacked uniformity in terms of
signage, décor, etc.
KJ utilized the shop décor to create an ambience and used special promotions during festive
occasions. KJ built an aura around its brand by making its shop a destination store through occasional
print advertisements. Other brands namely, BS, UC and KT lacked uniformity in terms of signage and
décor.
Based on the prices of the commonly sold items, an approximate index was composed for each of the
brands (Table II).
It may be observed that KJ was the highest priced brand, may be targeting the up market customers.
KT, UC and BS targeted the upper middle income customers while MN, SS and JJ targeted the
popular segment of middle income buyers (Table III).
4.2. Investigation for the basis of segmentation
The basis of segmentation of the bakery market of Kolkata was investigated for four factors: age,
gender, education and income by measuring the dependency of each of the independent factors on
brand patronage through chi-square tests. The dependency of income on brand purchase, with a P-
value of chi-square test was found to be 0.04 for six income groups. Since, target segment of the
firms, as observed from the marketing mix, was three distinct income groups, further investigations
were carried out. Very low P-value of chi-square at 0.006 in case of income (divided into three
different categories) clearly indicated that even at less than 1 per cent level of significance, the market
was segmented based on income of the customers. The customers were segmented into three
income groups as middle (segment I), upper-middle (segment II) and high (segment III) (Table IV).
4.3. Customer perception
The consumer survey data provided a fair amount of information on consumer perceptions of the
brands.
The quality perception variables were clubbed together using factor analysis for each of the brands. It
was found that segment III clubbed all the quality attributes in one factor (explaining 87.2 per cent of
variance). Segments I and II produced two factors, one on quality attributes and other on convenience
(explaining 92.7 and 94.3 per cent of variance respectively). However, only the quality factors for
segments I and II could explain 73.2 and 70.2 per cent, respectively. The overall quality perceived
was plotted against the value for money for all brands on a scatter plot, which created a positioning
map. Three such positioning maps were obtained for the three different segments, based on income
groups as mentioned earlier (Figure 2a-c).
It was observed that the perception of MN was similar across all income categories demonstrating
high value for money and reasonably high quality. Opposite was the case of JJ, whose position was
poor, both in terms of value for money and quality. In all the three figures, UC, BS and KT appeared to
cluster together. KJ scored highest in quality across all segments.
In the first segment (Figure 2a), SS was near to MN, though in a relatively inferior position. The cluster
comprising of UC, BS and KT was found to be of similar quality as that of MN. But they scored very
poorly, with respect to value for money. In the second segment (Figure 2b), the gap between MN and
SS got widened as performance of SS was much poor with respect to value for money. In the third
segment (Figure 2c), it was interesting to note that KJ was occupying the best possible position. UC
and BS scored over MN, in terms of quality and narrowed the gap with respect to value for money.
However, KT scored poorly, both in terms of quality and value for money, compared to MN. The gap
between SS and MN further widened owing to its poor performance on both quality and value for
money.
4.4. Positioning of the firms with respect to target segments
The alignment of the marketing mix with respect to the perception of customers in the target segment
was compared amongst all the seven firms as per the framework mentioned (Figure 1). It was
observed that MN, SS and JJ were targeting the first segment. MN was well placed in the same
segment, closely followed by SS. JJ could not make any mark in this segment, even though it targeted
the same. In the second segment, both KJ and MN were in the superior frontier even though this
segment was targeted by UC, BS and KT. In the third segment, KJ was the clear leader, which was its
target.
It may be interpreted that the marketing mix of MN was in alignment with the perception of its target
segment customers. SS was somewhat successful in this direction. Interestingly, KJ, the highest
priced brand, was perceived as a feasible brand by the customers of all the three segments. May be,
KJ could create an image of an aspirational brand for special occasion (birthday, anniversary, etc.)
purchases in the segments I and II. It may be concluded that the three firms – KJ, MN and SS were
successful in aligning their customers onto their marketing mix. The appropriateness of the marketing
strategies was established for these firms.
The market positions of the firms were studied in terms of sales growth and market share. A
longitudinal study of such market positions was conducted (Table V).
It may be observed that firms with appropriate marketing strategies, namely, MN, SS and KJ together
enjoy more than 80 per cent of the market share. All the three firms achieved significant growth in
sales during the last ten years. On the contrary, brands like JJ, KT and UC could not achieve any
sales growth during the period. For BS, the same was insignificant.
5. Conclusion
5.1. Managerial implications
The framework, which was used for the testing the appropriateness of the marketing strategies of
small firms, was simple and easy to implement. The only two input components required to interpret
the appropriateness of marketing strategies are the marketing mix elements and a corresponding
survey to understand customer perceptions. The test for appropriateness, which is reactive in nature,
is important, particularly for small firms where marketing is mostly informal, unplanned, relies on
intuition and differs from that of large companies. This is particularly relevant for small firms in the
developing countries as they are not customer driven, like those in the developed countries. Small
firms in the developing countries like India, which have traditionally enjoyed protection by the
government, need to assess the appropriateness of their marketing strategies for long term
sustainability in the present liberalized environment.
5.2. Research direction
From a methodological standpoint, it may be worth mentioning that the test of the framework has
been carried out in both qualitative and quantitative manner. The marketing mix elements were
composed through qualitative observations and interviews only. This certainly needs more refinement
in future. The paper primarily concentrated on assessing appropriateness of marketing strategies of
small firms and its impact on the market position. The study did not explore further in undertaking any
causal analysis for failure or success of the marketing strategies. Further research may be undertaken
in this direction. Further research may also be undertaken to assess the importance of appropriate
marketing strategies of other small firms in other sectors and also in other countries.
Note
 The policy of “reservation” initiated by the Government of India in 1967 primarily as

promotional and protective measure vis-à-vis the large scale sector, grants protection to small
scale sector, the only exception being the case of large units which undertaken minimum level
of exports as 75 per cent of their total production (Source: DC (SSI) Second All India Census
(1987-1988)).
Figure 1Framework for assessing appropriateness of marketing strategy
Figure 2Customer perception of (a) segment I; (b) segment II; (c) segment III
Table INumber of shops of catered by the brands
Table IIPrice index of the brands (taking MN as the base)
Table IIITarget segment of the firms as observed from marketing mix
Table IVDependency of independent factors on brand patronage through chi-square tests

Table VPerformance of firms
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The Authors
Faqir M. Anjum, Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of

Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Imran Pasha, Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of

Kashif Ghafoor, Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of

M. Issa Khan, Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of

M. Ali Raza, Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of

Abstract
Purpose – Wheat is the staple food in many parts of the world and bread is one of the most important
products of wheat flour. There is a need for innovations in bread making to increase its shelf life and
consumer's attraction. Fermentation is mostly done by yeast but it does not produce appreciable
amounts of organic acids, which are required to enhance the shelf life of bread. The present study
aims to determine the effect of bacterial and yeast culture blends on the quality and shelf life of
sourdough bread and to observe the sugar utilization during fermentation.
Design/methodology/approach – Three treatments were made using different blends of bacterial

cultures (homo-fermentative and hetero-fermentative) and baker's yeast compared with a control
having only baker's yeast. Chemical analysis, sugar utilization (Sucrose, glucose and fructose)
through high performance liquid chromatography, sensory characteristics (both internal and external)
and microbial count (Bacterial and fungal count) for each treatment were conducted at different
storage intervals.
Findings – The hetero-fermentative bacteria i.e. Lactobacillus plantarum along with baker's yeast
exhibited the best results regarding the utilization of sugars during fermentation (after 3 h of
fermentation 0.0158 mg/ml sugar remained), objective evaluation of bread and its sensory
characteristics. The bread prepared using the blend of hetero-fermentative bacteria (0.5 per cent) and
yeast (0.5 per cent) also showed greater resistance against bacteria (9×101 cfu/g after 60 h of
storage) and mold (1.1 × 102 cfu/g after 60 h of storage) growth.
Research limitations/implications – Hetero-fermentative bacteria along with baker's yeast can be

utilized in sour dough to improve major bread characteristics. This study is a step further in improving
the shelf life of sourdough.
Originality/value – Presently only baker's yeast is being used by bread industry for fermentation
purpose but a blend of bacterial culture along with baker's yeast can give better performance for
better quality and shelf life of the bread.
Article Type:
Research paper
Keyword(s):
Bakery products; Bacteria; Food products.

Journal:
Nutrition & Food Science
Volume:
38
Number:
Year:
2008
pp:
146-153
Copyright ©
ISSN:
0034-6659
Introduction
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a main food crop in most parts of the world including Pakistan. Among
the cereal grains wheat is preferred due to the presence of gluten, which possesses unique properties
of forming cohesive and elastic dough.
Bread is one of the most important products of the wheat flour. One of the main problems
encountered by bread producers is its short shelf life. There is a need of innovation in bread making
for attracting more people who are more reluctant for traditional products.
All consumers today have a considerable portion of their nutritional needs meet through fermented
foods (Steinkraus, 1994). Fermented foods include alcoholic food/beverage food, vinegar, pickled
vegetables, sausages, cheese, yogurts, leavened and sour dough breads. Sourdough is an acidic and
sharp taste mixture of flour and water for making bread from cereal flours. Sourdough bread is a
traditional product with a great potential, which can only be achieved if the interactions between the
lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts that populate the sourdough are understood.
Among various steps involved in bread making, fermentation is an important one. Dough fermentation
mostly carried out by yeasts that metabolizes sugars in dough and produces CO2, ethanol and other
chemical compounds. Several yeast species are found in sourdoughs, the most prevalent
being Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces exiguus, Candida milleri and Candida
krusei (Hammes et al., 2005). Lactic acid production depends on both starter culture and yeast
(Esteve et al., 1994). Yeasts alone do not produce appreciable amounts of either lactic acid or acetic
acid. LAB are added for acidification (Gobbetti et al., 1994). Sourdough LAB usually belongs to the
genus Lactobacillus, but occasionally, Leuconostoc spp. and Enterococcus spp. are found (Gobbetti,
1998; Hammes and Ganzle, 1998). Some species of LAB have been regarded as dominant in
different types of sourdoughs, depending on the technology used for their production (Hammes and
Ganzle, 1998). A number of species of LAB and yeast are responsible for dough transformation.
These microorganisms are usually contaminants originating from flour or the environment.
The dough acidified with homo-fermentative LAB (Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus

lactis and Lactobacillus ceremoris) contains small quantity of acetic acid. Homo-fermentative bacteria
do not produce CO2, so yeast must be added. Hetero-fermentative LAB especially Lactobacillus
brevis and Lactobacillus plantarum produce lactate, ethanol and CO2, and give increased volume up
to a level i.e. 20 per cent (Schleining, 1995). Sourdough fermentation is generally evaluated by the
measurement of parameters such as pH, acidity and microflora (Wick et al., 2003). Bread produced
with spontaneous sourdoughs with low pH and a high ratio of lactic and acetic acids have the highest
volumes and the lowest rates of staling during storage (Barber et al., 1992; Corsetti et al., 1998).
Sourdough LAB and yeasts have been shown to compete for carbon sources which influence acid
production by bacteria. Acidification of the dough, proteolysis of gluten and moderate hydrolysis of
starch are LAB activities which vary among sourdough strains and which may affect the
physicochemical changes throughout shelf life of bread (Gelinas et al., 1999).
Mixed culture of LAB and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisae) offer more protection against bread
spoilage. The demand for sourdough bread is increasing in Europe for its natural taste and good
health effects (Brummer ad Lorenz, 1991). In wheat bread, sourdoughs are mainly used to improve
flavor (Hansen and Hansen, 1996). Compounds formed by blending microorganisms often
complement each other and work to the exclusion of unwanted microorganisms. Mixed culture permit
better utilization to subtract because they possess wide range of enzymes and are able to attack great
variety of compounds (Zeikus and Johnson, 1991).
Texture and crumb gains characteristic are two major quality attributes of bread product (Crowley et
al., 2002). Generally, bread spoils in 70 h due to the development of rope and molds. The Shelf life of
bread can be increased by maintaining hygienic conditions during processing and storage
(Wassermann, 1969). In addition to it, the use of LAB may contribute to the production of safer foods
by inhibiting microbial pathogens or by removing chemicals or toxic substances.
Present study was conducted to determine the effect of bacterial starter cultures blend on the quality
and shelf life of bread and to observe the changes in the sugar, acidity and pH during dough
fermentation by different bacteria as compare to that of yeast alone.
Materials and methods
Procurement of raw material
Bacterial culture L. lactis was obtained from cheese industry; L. plantarum (NRRL-4496) and L.
bulgaricus (NRRL-548) were donated by the microbial genomics and bioprocessing research unit,
USDA, USA. Wheat flour, sugar, yeast, shortening and salt were procured from local market.
Chemical analysis
Chemical analysis (Moisture, Ash, Crude protein, Crude fat and Crude fiber) was done according to
the methods of AACC (2000). Nitrogen Free Extract (NFE) was calculated subtracting the percentage
of moisture, ash, crude protein, crude fat and crude fiber from 100.
Bread preparation
Bread was made according to the method described in AACC (2000) by using bacterial starters
having four treatments given below:
Treatments
1. T0 = Control 1 per cent yeast.

2. T1 = 0.5 per cent L. bulgaricus + 0.5 per cent yeast;
3. T2 = 0.5 per cent L. lactis + 0.5 per cent yeast;
4. T3 = 0.5 per cent L. plantarum + 0.5 per cent yeast.
Total titratable acidity and pH
Total titratable acidity (TTA) and pH were measured after dough fermentation according to the method
described in AACC (2000).
Determination of sugars
Different sugars like Glucose, Fructose and Sucrose were estimated by using high performance liquid
chromatography having Aminex HP x 0.87H column following method described by Torbjorn and
Hageral (1989). The mobile phase was 0.005 N H2SO4 and the sample injection volume was 20 µL at
a flow rate of 0.6 ml/min using refractive index detector.
Objective evaluation of bread
Bread samples were evaluated for their weight, volume (rapeseed displacement method) and weight
to the volume ratio as described in AACC (2000).
Sensory evaluation of bread
Sensory evaluation of bread carried out by a panel of eight judges at various storage intervals. The
Shelf life of all breads assessed and identification of fungal colonies on spoiled bread was carried out
according to the method described by Cappuccino and Sherman (1996).
Microbiological count
Microbiological count with colony counter at 0, 24, 48, 72 h of storage was carried out by counting and
adding up the moulds and bacteria colonies. The media used for fungal colonies and bacterial
colonies were saborand agar and nutrient agar, respectively.
Statistical analysis
Data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis as described by Steel et al. (1997).
Results and discussion
The chemical composition of commercial flour was 12.20 per cent moisture, 0.62 per cent ash, 11.59
per cent crude protein, 0.50 per cent crude fiber, 0.91 per cent crude fat and 74.18 per cent NFE. TTA
and pH were determined for each treatment. The lowest pH (5.29) and the highest TTA (4.9 per cent)
were obtained by T3 while the highest pH (6.13) and lowest TTA (2.3 per cent) were in T0. These
results were in close agreement with those obtained by Javanainen and Linko (1993). Halm et
al. (1996) carried out controlled fermentation experiments using six strains of Lactobacillus
fermentum and one strain of S. cerevisiae. They found that for most of the inoculated samples the
required pH of 3-7 was attained within 24 h of dough fermentation instead of 48 h as observed with
spontaneous dough fermentations.
Sucrose in samples was lower after 2 h as compared to 1 h fermentation Figure 1. It decreased further
after 3 h of fermentation. The best utilization of sucrose was observed in case of T3 (0.1004 mg/ml
remained) after 1 h of fermentation. After 2 h of fermentation maximum sucrose concentration was in
T2 (1.5535 mg/ml remained) and minimum in T3 (0.0554 mg/ml remained) while after 3 h of
fermentation the best utilization of sucrose was found to be again in T3 (0.0158 mg/ml remained),
whereas lowest in T2 (1.3405 mg/ml remained). These results indicate that the hetero-fermentative
bacteria L. plantarum along with baker's yeast permit the best utilization of sucrose in dough
fermentation.
Loaf volume of the bread does not show large variation with respect to the treatments. T0 and
T3 attained maximum volume (569CC and 573CC respectively) followed by T2 (568CC) and
T1 (557CC) attained the minimum volume. Regarding the weight, T2 attained the maximum weight
(149 g) followed by T4 and T0 (148 g) but there was not much difference. Weight to volume ratio
exhibited no wide range of difference among different breads.
The mean scores for the effect of treatments and storage intervals on different bread characteristics
are given in Tables I and II, respectively. The maximum mean score for volume of bread was obtained
by treatment T3 (8.4) at 0 and 12 h of storage time and minimum by treatments T0 and T2 (7.53) at 60
h. The volume of bread was affected significantly by treatments as well as storage time. Analysis of
variance showed that the effect of treatments and the storage time on colour of crust was highly
significant. Maximum score was obtained by T3 (7.33) at 0 h and minimum by T0 (6.56) at storage
interval of 60 h. The best storage time was 0 h followed by 12 h, whereas storage time of 36 and 60 h
was found to be non significant to each other. Zubair (2000) found similar results for colour of crust of
bread as affected by fermentation microorganism. The best results for the effect of treatments and
storage intervals of bread characteristics like symmetry of form, evenness of bake, character of crust,
formation of grain, aroma of bread and colour of crumb were shown by treatment T3 as indicated
in Tables I and II. These findings regarding the sensory evaluation of the bread are in close proximity
with the findings of Zleteva and Bratovanova (1994) who compared the bread prepared with LAB to
that of control (No LAB).
Taste of the product is an important quality parameter concerning the consumer's acceptability of
bread. The results for taste of bread were highly significant for both treatments and storage time.
Taste of T3(mean value 16.28) was the best while T2 (15.75) got the minimum score. The taste was
best at 0 h (16.28) of storage and decreased with the passage of time. This might be due to growth of
microorganisms and bread stalling. Taste of bread from all treatments was found to be very slightly
sour except that of the control. This was due to the production of minute quantities of organic acids by
the LAB as evident by decrease in dough pH. Javanainen et al. (1993) also found that sourdough with
a pH of 5.4-6 produces an acceptable lactic acid to acetic acid ratio and hence slight sour bread.
Texture of bread was affected highly significantly for different treatments and storage intervals. The
mean value for T3 (12.20) was the maximum while that of T2 (11.82) was the minimum. Texture was
found to be best at 0 h (12.52) storage time and the minimum value (11.07) was attained at storage
intervals of 60 h.
Colony count of bacteria in bread at different storage intervals on nutrient agar media were conducted
and maximum number of bacterial colony was observed in T0 in which there was 5 × 101 cfu/g
bacterial count observed in bread at 0 h of storage and increased to 2.5 × 102 cfu/g at 60 h of
storage (Table III). T3 showed a considerable resistance towards increase of bacteria even up to 60 h
of storage (9 × 101cfu/g of bread). In T3 and T1, first colony appeared after 12 h of storage. It
exhibited that L. plantarum was more effective against the growth of other bacteria on
bread. Rosenquist and Hansen (1998) found that the addition of sourdough into bread prevents the
growth of Bacillus subtilis very effectively.
Mold is widely spread in nature and moldiness is the main problem associated with the shelf life of
bread. Maximum number of fungal colonies was observed in T0 in which there were 1.4 × 102 cfu/g
fungal colonies in bread at 0 hour and increased to 3.5 × 102 cfu/g at 60 h of storage while T3 was
proven to be the most effective (Table III). After 60 h of storage T3 had only 1.1 × 102 cfu/g of the
bread which was much lower than other treatment. T1 and T2 were also found to resist fungal growth.
Lavermicocca et al. (2000) found that antifungal compounds produced by L. plantarum were more
effective against bread spoilage as compared to calcium propionate. LAB used in sourdough breads
increased shelf life and delayed staling of the breads. Results of the bread indicated that LAB has
important effects on the physicochemical, organoleptic and rheological characteristics of the breads
(Gul et al., 2005).
This study proves that the spectrum of dough sugars utilization can be broadened if bacterial cultures
are used along with yeast for dough fermentation especially the hetero-fermentative bacterial cultures
which may also prove to be helpful in improving textural attributes and sensory characteristics of
bread. This is also a step further in improving the shelf life of bread.
Figure 1.Sugar utilization in dough by blends of bacteria and yeast
Table I.Mean values for the effect of treatments on different bread characteristics
Table II.Mean values for the effect of storage intervals on different bread characteristics
Table III.Total bacterial and fungal count in different treatments at different storage intervals
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Corresponding author
Imran Pasha can be contacted at: ipasha2001@yahoo.com
The Authors
Faqir M. Anjum, Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of

Imran Pasha, Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of

Kashif Ghafoor, Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of

M. Issa Khan, Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of

M. Ali Raza, Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of

Abstract
Purpose – Wheat is the staple food in many parts of the world and bread is one of the most important
products of wheat flour. There is a need for innovations in bread making to increase its shelf life and
consumer's attraction. Fermentation is mostly done by yeast but it does not produce appreciable
amounts of organic acids, which are required to enhance the shelf life of bread. The present study
aims to determine the effect of bacterial and yeast culture blends on the quality and shelf life of
sourdough bread and to observe the sugar utilization during fermentation.
Design/methodology/approach – Three treatments were made using different blends of bacterial

cultures (homo-fermentative and hetero-fermentative) and baker's yeast compared with a control
having only baker's yeast. Chemical analysis, sugar utilization (Sucrose, glucose and fructose)
through high performance liquid chromatography, sensory characteristics (both internal and external)
and microbial count (Bacterial and fungal count) for each treatment were conducted at different
storage intervals.
Findings – The hetero-fermentative bacteria i.e. Lactobacillus plantarum along with baker's yeast
exhibited the best results regarding the utilization of sugars during fermentation (after 3 h of
fermentation 0.0158 mg/ml sugar remained), objective evaluation of bread and its sensory
characteristics. The bread prepared using the blend of hetero-fermentative bacteria (0.5 per cent) and
yeast (0.5 per cent) also showed greater resistance against bacteria (9×101 cfu/g after 60 h of
storage) and mold (1.1 × 102 cfu/g after 60 h of storage) growth.
Research limitations/implications – Hetero-fermentative bacteria along with baker's yeast can be

utilized in sour dough to improve major bread characteristics. This study is a step further in improving
the shelf life of sourdough.
Originality/value – Presently only baker's yeast is being used by bread industry for fermentation
purpose but a blend of bacterial culture along with baker's yeast can give better performance for
better quality and shelf life of the bread.
Article Type:
Research paper
Keyword(s):
Bakery products; Bacteria; Food products.
Journal:
Nutrition & Food Science
Volume:
38
Number:
Year:
2008
pp:
146-153
Copyright ©
ISSN:
0034-6659
Introduction
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a main food crop in most parts of the world including Pakistan. Among
the cereal grains wheat is preferred due to the presence of gluten, which possesses unique properties
of forming cohesive and elastic dough.
Bread is one of the most important products of the wheat flour. One of the main problems
encountered by bread producers is its short shelf life. There is a need of innovation in bread making
for attracting more people who are more reluctant for traditional products.
All consumers today have a considerable portion of their nutritional needs met through fermented
foods (Steinkraus, 1994). Fermented foods include alcoholic food/beverage food, vinegar, pickled
vegetables, sausages, cheese, yogurts, leavened and sour dough breads. Sourdough is an acidic and
sharp taste mixture of flour and water for making bread from cereal flours. Sourdough bread is a
traditional product with a great potential, which can only be achieved if the interactions between the
lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts that populate the sourdough are understood.
Among various steps involved in bread making, fermentation is an important one. Dough fermentation
mostly carried out by yeasts that metabolizes sugars in dough and produces CO2, ethanol and other
chemical compounds. Several yeast species are found in sourdoughs, the most prevalent
being Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces exiguus, Candida milleri and Candida
krusei (Hammes et al., 2005). Lactic acid production depends on both starter culture and yeast
(Esteve et al., 1994). Yeasts alone do not produce appreciable amounts of either lactic acid or acetic
acid. LAB are added for acidification (Gobbetti et al., 1994). Sourdough LAB usually belongs to the
genus Lactobacillus, but occasionally, Leuconostoc spp. and Enterococcus spp. are found (Gobbetti,
1998; Hammes and Ganzle, 1998). Some species of LAB have been regarded as dominant in
different types of sourdoughs, depending on the technology used for their production (Hammes and
Ganzle, 1998). A number of species of LAB and yeast are responsible for dough transformation.
These microorganisms are usually contaminants originating from flour or the environment.
The dough acidified with homo-fermentative LAB (Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus

lactis and Lactobacillus ceremoris) contains small quantity of acetic acid. Homo-fermentative bacteria
do not produce CO2, so yeast must be added. Hetero-fermentative LAB especially Lactobacillus
brevis and Lactobacillus plantarum produce lactate, ethanol and CO2, and give increased volume up
to a level i.e. 20 per cent (Schleining, 1995). Sourdough fermentation is generally evaluated by the
measurement of parameters such as pH, acidity and microflora (Wick et al., 2003). Bread produced
with spontaneous sourdoughs with low pH and a high ratio of lactic and acetic acids have the highest
volumes and the lowest rates of staling during storage (Barber et al., 1992; Corsetti et al., 1998).
Sourdough LAB and yeasts have been shown to compete for carbon sources which influence acid
production by bacteria. Acidification of the dough, proteolysis of gluten and moderate hydrolysis of
starch are LAB activities which vary among sourdough strains and which may affect the
physicochemical changes throughout shelf life of bread (Gelinas et al., 1999).
Mixed culture of LAB and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisae) offer more protection against bread
spoilage. The demand for sourdough bread is increasing in Europe for its natural taste and good
health effects (Brummer ad Lorenz, 1991). In wheat bread, sourdoughs are mainly used to improve
flavor (Hansen and Hansen, 1996). Compounds formed by blending microorganisms often
complement each other and work to the exclusion of unwanted microorganisms. Mixed culture permit
better utilization to subtract because they possess wide range of enzymes and are able to attack great
variety of compounds (Zeikus and Johnson, 1991).
Texture and crumb gains characteristic are two major quality attributes of bread product (Crowley et
al., 2002). Generally, bread spoils in 70 h due to the development of rope and molds. The Shelf life of
bread can be increased by maintaining hygienic conditions during processing and storage
(Wassermann, 1969). In addition to it, the use of LAB may contribute to the production of safer foods
by inhibiting microbial pathogens or by removing chemicals or toxic substances.
Present study was conducted to determine the effect of bacterial starter cultures blend on the quality
and shelf life of bread and to observe the changes in the sugar, acidity and pH during dough
fermentation by different bacteria as compare to that of yeast alone.
Materials and methods
Procurement of raw material
Bacterial culture L. lactis was obtained from cheese industry; L. plantarum (NRRL-4496) and L.
bulgaricus (NRRL-548) were donated by the microbial genomics and bioprocessing research unit,
USDA, USA. Wheat flour, sugar, yeast, shortening and salt were procured from local market.
Chemical analysis
Chemical analysis (Moisture, Ash, Crude protein, Crude fat and Crude fiber) was done according to
the methods of AACC (2000). Nitrogen Free Extract (NFE) was calculated subtracting the percentage
of moisture, ash, crude protein, crude fat and crude fiber from 100.
Bread preparation
Bread was made according to the method described in AACC (2000) by using bacterial starters
having four treatments given below:
Treatments
1. T0 = Control 1 per cent yeast.

2. T1 = 0.5 per cent L. bulgaricus + 0.5 per cent yeast;
3. T2 = 0.5 per cent L. lactis + 0.5 per cent yeast;
4. T3 = 0.5 per cent L. plantarum + 0.5 per cent yeast.
Total titratable acidity and pH
Total titratable acidity (TTA) and pH were measured after dough fermentation according to the method
described in AACC (2000).
Determination of sugars
Different sugars like Glucose, Fructose and Sucrose were estimated by using high performance liquid
chromatography having Aminex HP x 0.87H column following method described by Torbjorn and
Hageral (1989). The mobile phase was 0.005 N H2SO4 and the sample injection volume was 20 µL at
a flow rate of 0.6 ml/min using refractive index detector.
Objective evaluation of bread
Bread samples were evaluated for their weight, volume (rapeseed displacement method) and weight
to the volume ratio as described in AACC (2000).
Sensory evaluation of bread
Sensory evaluation of bread carried out by a panel of eight judges at various storage intervals. The
Shelf life of all breads assessed and identification of fungal colonies on spoiled bread was carried out
according to the method described by Cappuccino and Sherman (1996).
Microbiological count
Microbiological count with colony counter at 0, 24, 48, 72 h of storage was carried out by counting and
adding up the moulds and bacteria colonies. The media used for fungal colonies and bacterial
colonies were saborand agar and nutrient agar, respectively.
Statistical analysis
Data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis as described by Steel et al. (1997).
Results and discussion
The chemical composition of commercial flour was 12.20 per cent moisture, 0.62 per cent ash, 11.59
per cent crude protein, 0.50 per cent crude fiber, 0.91 per cent crude fat and 74.18 per cent NFE. TTA
and pH were determined for each treatment. The lowest pH (5.29) and the highest TTA (4.9 per cent)
were obtained by T3 while the highest pH (6.13) and lowest TTA (2.3 per cent) were in T0. These
results were in close agreement with those obtained by Javanainen and Linko (1993). Halm et
al. (1996) carried out controlled fermentation experiments using six strains of Lactobacillus
fermentum and one strain of S. cerevisiae. They found that for most of the inoculated samples the
required pH of 3-7 was attained within 24 h of dough fermentation instead of 48 h as observed with
spontaneous dough fermentations.
Sucrose in samples was lower after 2 h as compared to 1 h fermentation Figure 1. It decreased further
after 3 h of fermentation. The best utilization of sucrose was observed in case of T3 (0.1004 mg/ml
remained) after 1 h of fermentation. After 2 h of fermentation maximum sucrose concentration was in
T2 (1.5535 mg/ml remained) and minimum in T3 (0.0554 mg/ml remained) while after 3 h of
fermentation the best utilization of sucrose was found to be again in T3 (0.0158 mg/ml remained),
whereas lowest in T2 (1.3405 mg/ml remained). These results indicate that the hetero-fermentative
bacteria L. plantarum along with baker's yeast permit the best utilization of sucrose in dough
fermentation.
Loaf volume of the bread does not show large variation with respect to the treatments. T0 and
T3 attained maximum volume (569CC and 573CC respectively) followed by T2 (568CC) and
T1 (557CC) attained the minimum volume. Regarding the weight, T2 attained the maximum weight
(149 g) followed by T4 and T0 (148 g) but there was not much difference. Weight to volume ratio
exhibited no wide range of difference among different breads.
The mean scores for the effect of treatments and storage intervals on different bread characteristics
are given in Tables I and II, respectively. The maximum mean score for volume of bread was obtained
by treatment T3 (8.4) at 0 and 12 h of storage time and minimum by treatments T0 and T2 (7.53) at 60
h. The volume of bread was affected significantly by treatments as well as storage time. Analysis of
variance showed that the effect of treatments and the storage time on colour of crust was highly
significant. Maximum score was obtained by T3 (7.33) at 0 h and minimum by T0 (6.56) at storage
interval of 60 h. The best storage time was 0 h followed by 12 h, whereas storage time of 36 and 60 h
was found to be non significant to each other. Zubair (2000) found similar results for colour of crust of
bread as affected by fermentation microorganism. The best results for the effect of treatments and
storage intervals of bread characteristics like symmetry of form, evenness of bake, character of crust,
formation of grain, aroma of bread and colour of crumb were shown by treatment T3 as indicated
in Tables I and II. These findings regarding the sensory evaluation of the bread are in close proximity
with the findings of Zleteva and Bratovanova (1994) who compared the bread prepared with LAB to
that of control (No LAB).
Taste of the product is an important quality parameter concerning the consumer's acceptability of
bread. The results for taste of bread were highly significant for both treatments and storage time.
Taste of T3(mean value 16.28) was the best while T2 (15.75) got the minimum score. The taste was
best at 0 h (16.28) of storage and decreased with the passage of time. This might be due to growth of
microorganisms and bread stalling. Taste of bread from all treatments was found to be very slightly
sour except that of the control. This was due to the production of minute quantities of organic acids by
the LAB as evident by decrease in dough pH. Javanainen et al. (1993) also found that sourdough with
a pH of 5.4-6 produces an acceptable lactic acid to acetic acid ratio and hence slight sour bread.
Texture of bread was affected highly significantly for different treatments and storage intervals. The
mean value for T3 (12.20) was the maximum while that of T2 (11.82) was the minimum. Texture was
found to be best at 0 h (12.52) storage time and the minimum value (11.07) was attained at storage
intervals of 60 h.
Colony count of bacteria in bread at different storage intervals on nutrient agar media were conducted
and maximum number of bacterial colony was observed in T0 in which there was 5 × 101 cfu/g
bacterial count observed in bread at 0 h of storage and increased to 2.5 × 102 cfu/g at 60 h of
storage (Table III). T3 showed a considerable resistance towards increase of bacteria even up to 60 h
of storage (9 × 101cfu/g of bread). In T3 and T1, first colony appeared after 12 h of storage. It
exhibited that L. plantarum was more effective against the growth of other bacteria on
bread. Rosenquist and Hansen (1998) found that the addition of sourdough into bread prevents the
growth of Bacillus subtilis very effectively.
Mold is widely spread in nature and moldiness is the main problem associated with the shelf life of
bread. Maximum number of fungal colonies was observed in T0 in which there were 1.4 × 102 cfu/g
fungal colonies in bread at 0 hour and increased to 3.5 × 102 cfu/g at 60 h of storage while T3 was
proven to be the most effective (Table III). After 60 h of storage T3 had only 1.1 × 102 cfu/g of the
bread which was much lower than other treatment. T1 and T2 were also found to resist fungal growth.
Lavermicocca et al. (2000) found that antifungal compounds produced by L. plantarum were more
effective against bread spoilage as compared to calcium propionate. LAB used in sourdough breads
increased shelf life and delayed staling of the breads. Results of the bread indicated that LAB has
important effects on the physicochemical, organoleptic and rheological characteristics of the breads
(Gul et al., 2005).
This study proves that the spectrum of dough sugars utilization can be broadened if bacterial cultures
are used along with yeast for dough fermentation especially the hetero-fermentative bacterial cultures
which may also prove to be helpful in improving textural attributes and sensory characteristics of
bread. This is also a step further in improving the shelf life of bread.
Figure 1.Sugar utilization in dough by blends of bacteria and yeast
Table I.Mean values for the effect of treatments on different bread characteristics
Table II.Mean values for the effect of storage intervals on different bread characteristics
Table III.Total bacterial and fungal count in different treatments at different storage intervals
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Corresponding author
Imran Pasha can be contacted at: ipasha2001@yahoo.com

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