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Other from Java, Indonesia

Tempe bongkrek (coconut-press-cake tempeh), bannedtempe bongkrèk

Tempe bongkrek is a tempeh made by pressing the coconut left over from coconut-milk or oil making into a cake and growing Rhizopus mould through it. If the soil bacterium Burkholderia gladioli pv. cocovenenans takes hold instead, it makes bongkrekic acid, a heat-stable toxin that has killed many people. Indonesia banned its production after an outbreak in 1988.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Tempe bongkrek itself. Its own sources do not record how it is made, so the steps and scenes below are those of Tempeh (tempe kedelai, traditional leaf-wrapped), the closest documented soy and legumes ferment, shown as a guide to the method, not as a record of Tempe bongkrek.

Short entryOther

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo published recipe amounts; production has been illegal in Indonesia since 1988.
Coconut meat left from coconut-milk or oil making, pressed into a cake[anwar2017]
Rhizopus oligosporus mould, inoculated onto the cake[anwar2017][buckle1990]
StarterThe pressed cake is inoculated with Rhizopus oligosporus mould.

Total time across the steps of Tempeh (tempe kedelai, traditional leaf-wrapped): 2 days – 2.8 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaClose-up: water moving into a bean25 °CpH 4–4.5

What changes: Lactic bacteria sour the soak water while the beans swell

Step 1 of 5 · steps of Tempeh (tempe kedelai, traditional leaf-wrapped)
Soak until the beans sour
Time
24 h
Reported
Temperature
25 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 4–4.5
Measured
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Rhizopus

Output: soured, soaked beans.

Flavour
slightly sour
Texture
swollen
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

lactic acid bacteria sour the water; the acid holds back Enterobacteriaceae, B. cereus and S. aureus

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Tempe bongkrek is a tempeh made by pressing the coconut left over from coconut-milk or oil making into a cake and growing Rhizopus mould through it. If the soil bacterium Burkholderia gladioli pv. cocovenenans takes hold instead, it makes bongkrekic acid, a heat-stable toxin that has killed many people. Indonesia banned its production after an outbreak in 1988. Rhizopus oligosporus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Temperature22–30 °CReported[anwar2017]Inoculate with Rhizopus and incubate

What makes this one different

Unlike soybean tempeh, the base is fatty coconut waste, and coconut fat is what the bacterium needs to make bongkrekic acid. That fat is why this tempeh is deadly when it goes wrong.

Related ferments

Safety

Do not make or eat tempe bongkrek. This page records a banned food; we found no tested home method. A contaminated cake can look, smell and taste normal, and a 2017 review found no reliable commercial test to screen for the toxin. Bongkrekic acid blocks the mitochondrial adenine nucleotide translocase and is heat-stable, so do not count on frying or boiling to make a contaminated cake safe. It forms best at 22–30 °C and pH 6.5–8.0, and 2% salt alone reduced it but did not stop it. In coconut media no toxin was found with 10% coconut fat or less (dry basis), while 40–50% fat gave up to 1.4 mg/g, but corn flour foods and rice noodles have also caused fatal poisonings. In one lab study 2% salt plus acid to pH 4.5 blocked toxin formation in tempe bongkrek, but that is not a home safeguard, because many acidic foods have also been linked to outbreaks. The lethal dose in humans is poorly known; one source suggests 1–1.5 mg can be fatal, and another an oral LD50 of 3.16 mg/kg (Anwar et al. 2017). Treatment is supportive care only. Reported mortality averages about 60% in Indonesian outbreaks.

Hazards the sources name: Burkholderia gladioli pv. cocovenenans (formerly Pseudomonas cocovenenans), which makes bongkrekic acid and toxoflavin.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The first outbreak was recorded in Java in 1895. Since 1975 contaminated tempe bongkrek has caused almost 3000 cases, including at least 150 deaths. Production was banned after an outbreak in 1988, but production and occasional outbreaks continue.

  1. [anwar2017] Anwar M., Kasper A., Steck A.R., Schier J.G. 2017, Bongkrekic acid, a review of a lesser-known mitochondrial toxin, Journal of Medical Toxicology 13(2):173–179paper
  2. [buckle1990] Buckle K.A., Kartadarma E. 1990, Inhibition of bongkrek acid and toxoflavin production in tempe bongkrek containing Pseudomonas cocovenenans, Journal of Applied Bacteriology 68(6):571–576 (abstract)paper
  3. [garcia1999] Garcia R.A., Hotchkiss J.H., Steinkraus K.H. 1999, The effect of lipids on bongkrekic (bongkrek) acid toxin production by Burkholderia cocovenenans in coconut media, Food Additives and Contaminants 16(2):63–69 (abstract)paper
  4. [han2023] Han D., Chen J., Chen W., Wang Y., Wang Y. 2023, Bongkrekic acid and Burkholderia gladioli pathovar cocovenenans, formidable foe and ascending threat to food safety, Foods 12(21):3926paper