CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Ready‐to‐eat (RTE) products, particularly non‐reheated frankfurters contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes have been frequently implicated in outbreaks of listeriosis. Although this pathogen is inactivated by thermal treatments applied during processing of frankfurters, it is widely distributed in the environment and may be present in food processing facilities, thus frankfurters may be contaminated during peeling or packaging. On the other hand, since concerns over food safety have increasing among consumers worldwide, current trends in the food industry include the investigation of alternative inhibitors. The use of bioprotective cultures is a promising tool as a mean of naturally controlling the shelf‐life and safety of foods. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have a major potential to be used in biopreservation due to their GRAS status. In this study, the bacteriocins produced by LAB in combination with organic acids were evaluated on the shelf‐life of vacuum‐packaged frankfurters stored under temperature abuse (10 ºC) conditions during 36 days. Bacteriocins produced by Lactobacillus curvatus CRL705, Lactobacillus sakei CRL1862 and nisin alone or in combination with lactic and acetic acids (2.5%) were applied by dipping on frankfurters previously inoculated with L. monocytogenes (103 CFU/g). Initial reductions of 2.10 and 1.9 log CFU/ml of Listeria were detected in samples treated with LAB bacteriocins + organic acids and LAB bacteriocins + nisin + organic acids, respectively. Non‐viable Listeria cells from day 6 to the end of the assayed storage period were detected, thus a listericidal effect on frankfurters was produced. In addition, no pH changes in the presence of bacteriocins alone while a significant reduction (P