LACTIC-ACID BACTERIA IN MEAT FERMENTATION

The main fermented meat products are fermented sausages in which lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are the essential agents of the ripening process. During indigenous fermentations Lactobacillus curvatus and L. sake are the dominating LAB. Their application as starter organisms ensures the dominance of the starter during the whole ripening process. The suppression of the competing fortuitous LAB depends on the quality of the raw materials and on technological factors. The physiological properties of lactic starters do not suffice to ensure a sensory quality which can be found in traditionally produced dry fermented sausages. Additional activities required are present in micrococci and yeasts which, therefore, are further components of starter culture preparations. Some strains of meat-borne lactobacilli exhibit the essential activities like nitrate reductase, nitrite reductase, catalase, lipase, and protease, respectively. To create the optimal starter cultures composed of lactobacilli, these activities have to be studied and optimized in strains of high competitiveness in the fermenting substrate. © 1990.