Microbial ecology involved in the ripening of naturally fermented llama meat sausages. A focus on lactobacilli diversity

FONTANA, C.; DANIELA BASSI; CONSTANZA LÓPEZ; VINCENZA PISACANE; MC OTERO; EDOARDO PUGLIS; ANNALISA REBECCHI; PIER SANDRO COCCONCELLI; GRACIELA VIGNOLO

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOOD MICROBIOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 236 p. 17 - 25

0168-1605

Llama represents for the Andean regions a valid alternative to bovine and pork meat and thanks to the high proteinsand lowfat content; it can constitute a good product for the novel food market. In this study, culture-dependentand independent methods were applied to investigate the microbial ecology of naturally fermented llamasausages produced in Northwest Argentina. Two different production technologies of llama sausage were investigated:a pilot-plant scale (P) and an artisanal one (A). Results obtained by High-Throughput Sequencing (HTS)of 16S rRNA amplicons showed that the production technologies influenced the development of microbial communitieswith a different composition throughout the entire fermentation process. Both sequencing and microbiologicalcounts demonstrated that Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) contributed largely to the dominant microbiota.When a total of 230 isolates were approached by RAPD-PCR, presumptive LAB strains from P production exhibitedan initial variability in RAPD fingerprints switching to a single profile at the final of ripening,while A productionrevealed a more heterogeneous RAPD pattern during thewhole fermentation process. The constant presenceof Lactobacillus sakei along the fermentation in both productionswas revealed by HTS and confirmed by speciesspecificPCR fromisolated strains. The technological characterization of Lb. sakei isolates evidenced their ability togrow at 15 °C, pH 4.5 and 5% NaCl (95%). Most strains hydrolyzed myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic proteins. Bacteriocinsencoding genes and antimicrobial resistance were found in 35% and 42.5% of the strains, respectively. Anappropriate choice of a combination of autochthonous strains in a starter formulation is fundamental to improveand standardize llama sausages safety and quality.