Abstract
Meat spoilage is a complicated biological phenomenon taking place over the course of time. Several factors influence it, mainly external factors related to packaging and storage temperature but also internal ones related to contamination diversity and product ingredients. We conducted genomic studies of specific spoilage organisms (SSO) and investigated the spoilage microbiomes providing information about the factors that make a specific organism a competitive SSO, as well as the interactions between certain SSO and the most active species and pathways in packaged raw meat. Our studies showed that spoilage microbiomes are diverse, but certain aspects, such as oxygen content or added marinades, shape this diversity strongly. We have also characterized a new spoilage-associated pathway, i.e., heme-dependent respiration capability, in Leuconostoc gelidum subsp. gasicomitatum. The microbiome studies we conducted explain why this species has become a competitive SSO. It is a fast grower and gains advantage for its growth if oxygen is present in the packages. Since the contamination of psychrotrophic lactic acid bacteria is difficult to avoid in meat manufacture, leuconostocs cause spoilage problems from time to time especially in marinated products or those packaged under high-oxygen–containing atmospheres.
Highlights
This paper was accepted as a contribution to the 2020 International Congress of Meat Science and Technology and the AMSA Reciprocal Meat Conference
Since the contamination of psychrotrophic lactic acid bacteria is difficult to avoid in meat manufacture, leuconostocs cause spoilage problems from time to time especially in marinated products or those packaged under high-oxygen–containing atmospheres
To increase our knowledge of system-level responses of lactic acid bacterium (LAB) during growth, we studied interactions between the 3 previously mentioned specific spoilage organisms (SSO), i.e., L. gelidum subsp. gasicomitatum, L. piscium, and P. oligofermentans, comparing their time course transcriptome profiles obtained during their growth in individual, pairwise, and triple cultures (Andreevskaya et al, 2018)
Summary
Often a manufacturer assigns a shelf life to a product by conducting a shelf life study. SSO do not cause human disease, but some psychrotrophic pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes and the pathogenic Yersinia species, are able to grow within the cold-tolerant food spoilage communities. These 200 to 300 taxa had been the SSO able to grow and produce spoilage volatiles rendering the product unfit for human consumption in 8 d. Were they the fastest to utilize nutrients, strongest to survive stressors or equipped with capabilities needed in interaction and mutualistic behavior? Our current knowledge of cold-tolerant SSO is still quite fragmental, and often it does not allow us to answer the most interesting questions from the food manufacturer’s point of view These questions are mainly related to sources and properties/circumstances allowing SSO to grow in their products
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