Screening and Isolation of organic acid producers from samples of diverse habitats

An organic acid is an organic compound with acidic properties. The most common organic acids are the carboxylic acids whose acidity is associated with their carboxyl group -COOH. Organic acids have long history of being utilized as food additives and preservatives for preventing food deterioration and extending the shelf life of perishable food ingredient (Cherrington et al., 1991). The organic acids produced by various microbes are citric, gluconic, itaconic, lactic, oxalic, fumaric, malic acid. The main organic acids in industrial use are citric, acetic, tartaric, malic, lactic and gluconic acid (Milsonand Meers, 1985; Moeller et al., 2007). A large number of microorganisms including bacteria such as Arthrobacter paraffinens, Bacillus licheniformis, Corynebacterium sp. Lactobacillus casei, L. helveticus, L. paracasei, Streptococcus thermophilus, fungi such as Aspergillus niger, A. aculeatus, A. carbonarius, A. awamori, Yarrowia lipolytica and related yeast species, may be in use commercially to produce citric acid (Lopez-Garcia, ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 9 (2013) pp. 39-44 http://www.ijcmas.com