Abstract
The yeast flora isolated from frozen food comprised mainly asporogenous species. They were represented by Candida (42%), Torulopsis (16%), Trichosporon (13%), Cryptococcus (11%), Rhodotorula (7%), Debaryomyces (7%), Sporobolomyces (2%) and Aureobasidium (2%). Most strains grew well at relatively low temperatures. More than half of the isolates started to grow within a week at -2°C. Strains belonged to the same species had nearly the same maximum growth temperature in spite of their different origins, either frozen food or non-frozen, except for Trich. cutaneum. So-called “obligately psychrophilic yeasts” had some common characters such as alcoholic fermentation, starch synthesis and nitrate assimilation, and supposed to be related taxonomically to each other.
