The microbial association of Greek taverna sausage stored at 4 and 10 °C in air, vacuum or 100% carbon dioxide, and its spoilage potential

J. SAMELIS and K.G. GEORGIADOU.2000.Strains of the Lactobacillus sakei/curvatus group, mainly non‐slime‐producing Lact. sakei, dominated the microbial flora of industrially manufactured taverna sausage, a traditional Greek cooked meat, stored at 4 °C and 10 °C in air, vacuum and 100% CO2. Atypical, arginine‐positive and melibiose‐negative strains of this group were isolated. The isolation frequency of Lact. sakei/curvatus from sausages stored anaerobically was as high as 92–96%, while other meat spoilage organisms were practically absent. Conversely, in air‐stored sausages, leuconostocs, mainly Leuconostoc mesenteroides ssp. mesenteroides, had a considerable presence (14–21%), whereas Brochothrix thermosphacta, pseudomonads and Micrococcaceae grew, but failed to increase above 105 cfu g−1 in all samples during storage. Only yeasts were able to compete against LAB and reached almost 107 cfu g−1 after 30 d of aerobic storage at 10 °C. The great dominance (> 108 cfu g−1) of LAB caused a progressive decrease of pH and an increase of the concentration of l‐lactate, d‐lactate and acetate in all sausage packs. The growth of LAB and its associated chemical changes were more pronounced at 10 °C than 4 °C. At both storage temperatures, l‐lactate and acetate increased more rapidly and to a higher concentration aerobically, unlike d‐lactate, which formed in higher amounts anaerobically. Storage in air was the worst packaging method, resulting in greening and unpleasant off‐odours associated with the high acetate content of the sausages. Carbon dioxide had no significant effect on extending shelf‐life. The factors affecting the natural selection of Lact. sakei/curvatus in taverna sausage are discussed. Moreover, it was attempted to correlate the metabolic activity of this group with the physicochemical changes and the spoilage phenomena occurring in taverna sausage under the different storage conditions.