Effect of starter cultures on taste-active amino acids and survival of pathogenic Escherichia coli in dry fermented beef sausages

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Tang, Kai Xing
  • Shi, Tiange
  • Gänzle, Michael G.

• The accumulation of taste-active compounds during ripening determines the taste of fermented meats; however, the contribution of defined starter cultures to glutamate during sausage ripening remains unknown. This study investigated the role of lactic acid bacteria and Staphylococcus carnosus on the accumulation of free amino acids during dry sausage fermentation. A sausage model system was developed to control sausage microbiota throughout ripening. Sausages were produced at the laboratory scale with defined starter cultures; aseptic controls were fermented without culture addition. Lactobacillus sakei, Lactobacillus plantarum, Pediococcus pentosaceus, and Pediococcus acidilactici were used as single cultures; Staphylococcus carnosus with L. sakei or P. pentosaceus were used as cocktails. The viable cell counts in aseptic control sausages remained < 1 log (CFU/g) throughout 20 days of ripening. The use of the model system demonstrated that bacterial enzymes influenced the release of free amino acids, even during the initial fermentation stage. Ripening time was the most important factor determining the accumulation of free amino acids, and the accumulation of glutamate was not strain specific. The sausage model system was also used for a challenge trial with a cocktail of pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli; viable cell counts of pathogenic E. coli were reduced by less than 1 log (CFU/g) during ripening. The sausage model for control of ripening microbiota will facilitate further studies on the impact of defined cultures on the safety and quality of fermented meats.

• Date created

  2018-08-01

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Dry fermented sausage
  • Sterile sausage model
  • Free amino acid
  • Glutamate
  • Shiga-toxin producing
  • E. coli

• Type of Item

  Article (Draft / Submitted)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-zvax-tb95

• License

  © Springer-Verlag This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-018-3130-4