Monitoring and traceability of spoilage bacteria from three representative braised chickens based on culture-dependent and high-throughput sequencing

Abstract

Culture-dependent methods and high-throughput sequencing technology were used to monitor the spoilage bacteria of braised chickens from three regions. The microorganisms in the braised chickens, which were vacuum-packed and stored at 4 °C, were isolated, identified, and traced, and the changes in meat quality were also measured. The high-throughput sequencing of braised chickens from different regions showed that the bacterial diversity decreased and the relative abundance increased during storage. At the end of storage, Lactobacillus, Brochothrix, Leuconostoc, Carnobacterium, and Enterobacteriaceae; Lactobacillus, Weissella, Aerococcus, Enterobacter, and Lactococcus; Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcus, Serratia, Vagococcus, Lactobacillus, and Hafnia-obesumbacterium were the dominant microorganisms of braised chickens from the three regions. Twelve strains, namely Lactobacillus curvatus, Weissella viridescens, Leuconostoc citreum, Lactobacillus sakei, Brochothrix thermophacta, Serratia liquefaciens, Weissella hellenica, Lelliottia amnigena, Pantoea agglomerans, Rahnella sp., Enterococcus devriesei, and Enterobacteriaceae bacterium, were isolated and identified. The random forest method was used to predict the source of the samples according to the species of bacteria, and prediction accuracies of 91.7%, 83.3%, and 75% at the order, family, and genus levels, respectively, were achieved. The source of food spoilage bacteria could be traced with high accuracy through the sample microorganism, which provides a new direction for the study of food spoilage bacteria.