CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Lactic Acid Bacteria play a major role in the microbial consortium of fermented and cured meat, affecting both the technological properties and the stability of the final product. More specifically, they are involved in fermented sausages safety and sensory quality by inhibiting pathogen and spoilage microorganisms as well as contributing to color, texture and flavor development, respectively. In particular, it is known that low molecular weight peptides and amino acids are involved in the typical sausage taste. Lactobacillus curvatus CRL705, a bacteriocinogenic strain isolated from Argentinean artisanal fermented sausage was selected to be included in an autochthonous starter culture formulation. With the aim to explore the contribution of L. curvatus CRL705 to sausages flavor, meat peptide degradation was evaluated by using a fermented sausage model. Beaker sausages were prepared with aseptic ground beef and additives (3% NaCl, 200 ppm NaNO2, 1.5% glucose and sucrose) inoculated or not with L. curvatus CRL705 (7 log CFU/g). After fermentation (3 days) and ripening (10 days), bacterial growth and low molecular weight peptides were analyzed. Less than 3kDa peptide fractions were obtained from beaker sausages protein extracts and analyzed by RP-HPLC and mass spectrometry. Results showed clear differences on peptide profiles when inoculated and non-inoculated samples were compared. L. curvatus CRL705 proteolytic system showed to fully degrade peptides eluting at 12.90 min after 3 days. In control samples, endogenous proteolytic activity was evidenced at 10 days by minor changes observed at 11.46 and 11.96 min eluting time. Information about the main beef proteins affected by L. curvatus CRL705 may be provided by peptide sequences, thus supporting the contribution of released peptides by this meat-borne strain on typical sausages taste.