FIG 1.

pH and microbial community dynamics of spontaneous carrot juice fermentations. (A) Evolution of the mean pH of biological repeats and standard errors of means of two laboratory fermentations of carrot juice (LF1 in light green and LF2 in purple) and of the pH of all household fermentations (HF; orange). The dashed horizontal line indicates the widely accepted food fermentation safety threshold of pH 4.6 (22). Data points of the same fermentation were connected for clarity. (B to D) Evolution of the mean microbial counts of biological repeats and standard errors of means on MRS agar for presumptive LAB, VRBG agar for presumptive Enterobacteriaceae, and YPD agar for presumptive yeasts, of LF1 (B), LF2 (C), and of the microbial counts of all household fermentations HF (n = 38) (D). Data points of the same fermentation were connected for clarity.