Gochujang, fermented red pepper paste, is a grain-based Korean traditional food. The quality of gochujang produced by cottage industries is not well-documented. Thus, the present study aimed to analyze the quality of gochujang from 35 traditional cottage industries for physicochemical and microbial characteristics, along with volatile compound contents. In addition to microbial characteristics, salinity, pH, free amino nitrogen, and alcohol content were evaluated. Ethanol was detected as the predominant alcohol and 57% of tested gochujang products harbored >1% of total alcohol content, which was above the recommended level for halal products. Gochujang products contained hexadecanoic and linoleic acids predominantly and several volatile compounds belonging to the classes of alcohols, aldehydes, alkanes, nitrogen-containing compounds, and terpenes. A wide range of aerobic mesophilic bacteria (2.79–8.73 log CFU/g) and yeast counts (1.56–7.15 log CFU/g) was observed. Five distinct yeast species were identified, including Zygosaccharomyces rouxii. Eight gochujang products were found to be contaminated with Bacillus cereus (>4 log CFU/g). This study suggests that there is a need to limit B. cereus contamination in cottage industry products and reduce alcohol content to comply with halal food guidelines.

Traditional gochujang is well known for its distinguished flavor and taste. However, the safety of cottage industry gochujang products is uncertain, particularly, in terms of biogenic amine (BA) content which is not yet documented. The present study aimed to determine the level of BAs present in 35 traditional gochujang products nationwide. All gochujang products had considerable amounts of total BAs ranging from 52.95 mg/kg to 176.24 mg/kg. Individually, histamine and tyramine were either not detected or detected up to 16.94 mg/kg and 2.15–52.34 mg/kg, respectively. In all the tested gochujang products, putrescine, spermidine, and spermine were detected in the range of 7.60–56.72 mg/kg, 14.96–36.93 mg/kg, and 4.68–16.31 mg/kg, respectively. A total of 22 and 19 gochujang products had less than 1 mg/kg of cadaverine and histamine, respectively. The findings indicate that all the gochujang products tested herein had BA levels below the suggested toxicity limits recommended by the various regulatory authorities, which reveal that they are safe for human consumption.

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