A model for the effect of pH on the growth of chalk yeasts.

Hyphopichia burtonii, Pichia anomala, and Saccharomycopsis fibuligera were isolated from spoiled packaged sliced bread. These chalk yeasts were characterized by a wide range of pH for which growth was almost optimum. Thus, the curve growth vs pH exhibited plateau and sharp profiles close to the minimum and the maximum pH. This study described a chalk yeast model (CYM) for the effect of pH derived from a new germination model for fungi (Dantigny, P., Nanguy, S., P.-M., Judet-Correia, D., and Bensoussan, M. 2011, International Journal of Food Microbiology, 146, 176-181). The CYM is asymmetric, versatile, based on parameters with biological significance, and compatible with the gamma concept. …