Complete Replacement of Nitrite With a Lactobacillus fermentum on the Quality and Safety of Chinese Fermented Sausages.

Yuning Xu,Yinglian Zhu

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.704302

Abstract

This study investigated the positive effects of complete replacement of nitrite with a Lactobacillus fermentum on the quality and safety of Chinese fermented sausages, and evaluated the risk of this strain. The effects of the strain on pH, color, nitrite, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), total volatile basenitrogen (TVB-N), metmyoglobin (Met-Mb), biological amines, free amino acid content, and sensory index have been studied. The results revealed that the strain reduced the pH of the sausages, which reduced the risk of food-borne pathogens, and accelerated the acidification and gelation process. The inoculation of the strain produced pink color similar to 50 mg/kg nitrite, significantly reducing the residual risk of nitrite in the sausages. In addition, the strain effectively improved quality and nutrition of the sausages through preventing fat oxidation, protein decomposition, and myoglobin oxidation and increasing free amino acid content. The harmful biogenic amines species of the treated sample were reduced, although the tyramine contents were higher than the control, and the contents of the two groups were all far below the specified limit (800 mg/kg). The sensory analysis showed that the strain enhanced the taste, flavor, sourness, and overall acceptability of the sample sausages. Therefore, replacing nitrite completely with the strain L. fermentum could be a potential strategy to produce healthier and safer acceptable sausages through decreasing the risk of nitrite and improving nutrition and quality of the sausages.

Highlights

In food process, specific food additives are often added to prevent corruption and extend the shelf life of the foods
The effect of different concentrations of L. fermentum on the color development of fermented sausages was studied, and the results showed that the strain contributed to the production of nitrosomyoglobin (Mb-NO) and 108 CFU/g meat of the strain could produce the pink color similar to 60 mg/kg nitrite (Zhang et al, 2007)
There had no significance in a∗ value (p > 0.05) between the sample and the control at the 20th day, which indicated that the L. fermentum had the color formation ability in meat products nitrite-free

Summary

Introduction

Specific food additives are often added to prevent corruption and extend the shelf life of the foods. The residual of some chemical additives will threaten human health, and they might form toxic compounds due to the chemical reaction between the reactants (Molognoni et al, 2019). The development of natural and harmless food additives has become research hotspots in food industry. The natural biopreservatives are ideal natural food preservatives, which are safe, nontoxic, and efficient and have no negative effects. There are fewer natural microbial preservatives that can be used in the meat industry, and in-depth explorations are needed

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion