Meat starter cultures: Isolation and characterization of lactic acid bacteria from traditional sausages

Fermented meat products represent an important segment of our alimentation. Obtaining these products is based on beneficial microorganism activity. In the case of traditional food products, these are commercial starters or autochthonous microflora. Fermentation of raw materials is mainly done by sugar metabolization of lactic acid bacteria (LAB). In addition, these microorganisms can have other beneficial properties too such as probiotic properties, antimicrobial compound production abilities, etc.

In order to meet consumer demands, starter cultures are continuously developed to produce high-quality, healthy, and tasty products, thus contributing to guaranteeing microbiological safety and to improving one or more sensory characteristics, technological, nutritional, or health properties of the fermented products. The aim of our research is to determine the technological properties of autochthonous lactic acid bacteria originated from commercial fresh sausages in order to select and use them as potential starter cultures in the meat industry. In our work, we determined the relevant characteristics (such as salt tolerance, proteolytic activity, antimicrobial activity, and antibiotic resistance) of bacteria isolated from 16 fresh sausages. Based on our results, the studied bacterial isolates originated from sausages could be potentially used as autochthonous meat starter cultures.