Pork meat products functional value and safety parameters improving by using lactic acid fermentation of savory plants

The nutritional strategies to improve the quality of food products of animal origin are relatively new approach. In this work the solid state fermentation (SSF) and traditional submerged fermentation (TF) with bacteriocin-like inhibitory substances (BLIS) producing lactic acid bacteria was applied for treatment of Satureja montana L. plants (SMP). The effect of fermented SMP additives on ready-to-cook minced pork (RCMP) quality and safety was studied. Viability of LAB in SMP medium significantly (p < 0.05) depended on type of fermentation (TF and SSF). Supplementation of RCMP with SSF SMP reduced the growth of mesophilic bacteria up to 34 % during 120 h storage, while TF SMP additives had lower effect (up to 17.4 %) compared to control sample. The highest antimicrobial activity against pathogens showed SSF SMP additives fermented with P. acidilactici. Sensory analysis indicated the significant (p < 0.05) acceptability increase of RCMP prepared with 3 % SSF SMP additives. The addition of SMP increased tenderness and water holding capacity and enriched the RCMP with biologically active compounds such as rho-cimene, gamma-terpinene and carvacrol. Both types of SMP fermented with tested LAB strains influenced the significant (p < 0.05) reduction of total biogenic amines in the RCMP (to 0.3 mg/kg d.w.) compared to control sample (43.96 mg/kg d.w.). SMP fermented with BLIS producing LAB could be a good alternative for RCMP processing to prevent meat decolouration and microbial spoilage, thus increasing acceptability and shelf-life of meat products.