Fermented meat products Flashcards
(37 cards)
What is fermented meat product
meats that are deliberately inoculated during processing to ensure sufficient control of microbial activity
IS there a starter culture for meat or not?
Most manufacturers use starter cultures of LAB, although “traditional” methods may rely on naturally occurring microflora
However, meat fermentations can be started three ways:
- Natural Fermentation, which relies on indigenous microflora
- Back inoculation, which involves inoculating new meat with a portion of a previous batch, and
- Starter culture, which involves inoculating meat with frozen or freeze dried culture
Why starter culture are started to be used
- The use of starter cultures in meat products is relatively new, and the rationale for their use is that they improve the safety, flavor, and repeatability of meat fermented products
- Prior to the use of starter cultures outbreaks associate with Staphylococci were common
Is there a lot of LAB naturally in meat?
•LAB are a minor component of the microflora in fresh meat, but when meat is stored in anaerobic conditions (under vacuum) the resulting microenvironment facilitates their growth
what are the requirements for starter culture for meat?
•The starter cultures used in meat must be homofermentative to produce enough acid to rapidly lower the pH of the meat, able to grow in 6% salt, and have the capacity to enhance the flavor of the meat without producing slimes
What was the first available meat starter and why
- The first commercially available meat starter was Pediococcus acidilactici
- It was present in fermented meats (although did not dominate the culture)
- It survives lyophilization
- It rapidly produces lactic acid
- It has a higher optimal growth temperature than Lactobacillus sp.
- It is salt tolerant up to at least 6.5%
•There is also a ____ starter culture that can be used alone or in combination with P. acidilactici for dry and semidry sausage
Lb. plantarum
How rapidly and for how much the meat starter culture can decrease pH
from 5.6 to 4.8 in 8 hours
Why there is a color development in fermented meats?
- Certain bacteria such as staphylococci and kocuria can be commonly added to starter cultures to reduce nitrate/nitrite to nitric oxide via nitrate and nitrite reductase to develop meat into the characteristic pink colour after heating
- Some Lactobacillus can also reduce nitrite/nitrate for this reaction
- Red color development in meat can also be attributed to the consumption of oxygen
- •Increased oxygen consumption (by growing facultative aerobes) reduces oxygen tension on the meat surface
- •Bacteria can then form a physical barrier that limits oxygen from diffusing to the meat underneath
- •Metmyoglobin forms (brown)
- •As the microbes continue to consume oxygen, metmyoglobin gets reduced to myoglobin derivatives (bright red)
What is bacteriocins and why they are added
- Bacteriocins are antimicrobial peptides that either kill or inhibit the growth of certain other Gram-positive bacteria
- Since fermented meats are processed without heat treatment, the addition of bacteriocin producing strains was suggested to ameliorate safety concerns
What kind of preservatives bacteriocins are?
•Because of their minimal risk to human health bacteriocins are considered natural food preservatives
What produces bacteriocins
•Several species of Lactobacillus produce bacteriocins
Advantages of using cultures with bacteriocins
- Antimicrobial activity against pathogens and spoilage bacteria
- Increased shelf life
- Reduced rate of meat tissue degradation
•-____ represent the largest category of fermented meat products
Dry and semidry sausages
Where dry and semidry sausages originated from
Mediterranean region
Tastes and sensory characteristics coming from __ in dry and semidry sausages
- Addition of salt
- Fermentation by indigenous LAB
- Indigenous yeasts
- Rapid drying conditions of the Mediterranean
What is the general outline process for feremtned sausages
- Fermented sausages are generally heavily seasoned and stuffed into anaerobic sausage casings which favor the growth of LAB
- Typically these products are not smoked, and are preserved by the accumulation of lactic acid, organic acid, and alcohols
What is summer sausage and difference
- In contrast to the Mediterranean, Northern European Sausages were prepared during the winter and stored until summer, thus the name Summer Sausage
- These sausages have more water than the varieties from the Mediterranean, are more lightly spiced, and are heavily smoked at colder temperatures
- They are comparable to todays semidry sausages
What characteristics of dry and semidry sausages are regulated by safety agencies and what is the exception
•Compositional characteristics of dry and semidry sausages (such as moisture-to-protein ratios (MPR), pH limits, and ingredients) are tightly regulated by safety agencies (Health Canada, Federal Drug Administration)
Unless commercially sterilized
non-refrigerated semidry, shelf-stable sausages must be (pH, packaging, brine, additives)
- •Fermented to a pH of 4.5 or lower
- •Must be intact (or vacuum packed if sliced)
- •Have an internal brine concentration no less than 5%
- •Are cured with nitrite•Be smoked with wood
Semidry sausage manufacture must involve the following basic steps (7 steps)
I.Reduce the particle size of high-quality raw meat
II.Incorporate salt and nitrate or nitrite, glucose, spices, seasonings, and specific starter culture
III.Uniformly blend all ingredients
IV.Vacuum stuff the meat into a semipermeable casing to minimize the presence of oxygen
V.Incubate at or near the starter cultures optimum growth temperature until a specific pH end point is achieved (or until carbohydrates are utilized)
VI.Heat (not always required) to inactivate starter culture and ensure pathogen destruction
VII.Dry (aging) to the required MPR
When microbial contamination of meat occurs? What type of bacteria? How spoilage can occur?
- Bacterial contamination of meat will always happen during the slaughter process (most bacteria come from the hide, skin, or intestinal contents)
- These include predominantly Gram-negative bacteria
- Meats used for fermented sausages should be immediately chilled to <4.5C, have a small number of CFUs, and be free from defects
- If spoilage occurs it will usually be the result of Gram-negative, proteolytic bacteria that produce a putrid “rotten-egg” smell
What bacteria are initially present on meat?
•Small numbers of salt-tolerant LAB are initially present in the meat, and become the dominant population under anaerobic conditions
How concentration of LAB changes during meat fermentation?
•Initially LAB are 3-4 log CFU/g, but they increase during fermentation to 7-8 log CFU/g
