Abstract
Reformulating recipes of ready-to-eat meat products such as salami to reduce salt content can mitigate the negative health impacts of a high salt diet. We evaluated the potential of potassium lactate (KL) as a sodium chloride (NaCl) replacer during salami production. NaCl and KL stress tolerance comparisons showed that four food-derived Listeria innocua isolates were suitable as biologically safe Listeria monocytogenes surrogates. Effects of the high salt (4% NaCl) concentration applied in standard salami recipes and a low salt (2.8% NaCl) plus KL (1.6%) combination on product characteristics and growth of contaminating Listeria and starter culture were compared. Simulated salami-ripening conditions applied in meat simulation broth and beef showed that the low salt plus KL combination retained similar to superior anti-Listeria activity compared to the high salt concentration treatment. Salami challenge tests showed that the low NaCl plus KL combination had comparable anti-Listeria activity as the high NaCl concentration during ripening and storage. No significant differences were detected in starter culture growth profiles and product characteristics between the high NaCl and low NaCl plus KL combination treated salami. In conclusion, KL replacement enabled a 30% NaCl reduction without compromising the product quality and antimicrobial benefits of high NaCl concentration inclusion.
Highlights
Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterial contaminant in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods resulting in serious foodborne illnesses and economic losses to the food industry [1,2,3]
We initially examined whether a low salt (2.8% NaCl) and KL (1.6%) combination that contains 30% less NaCl than the normal high salt levels (4% NaCl) applied in standard salami production recipes was able to retain desired antimicrobial activity levels as high salt concentrations (4% and 6% NaCl) against L. monocytogenes
(2.8%) and KL (1.6%) combination induced antimicrobial activity levels that were similar and, in some instances, even superior to those observed with high (4% and 6%) NaCl concentrations normally applied in salami production
Summary
Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterial contaminant in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods resulting in serious foodborne illnesses and economic losses to the food industry [1,2,3]. The risk of illness or death per portion among RTE foods contaminated by L. monocytogenes is high in deli meats like bologna type sausage, salami, and smoked salmon in comparison to other foods [2,3,4]. Hurdle technology including several bactericidal and bacteriostatic intervention strategies against these pathogens have been developed to improve food safety, though with varying success levels [7,8,9]. Among these interventions, low water activity and osmotic stress induced through the addition of salts like sodium chloride (NaCl) are used. Most of these have bacteriostatic activity prolonging food shelf life by inhibiting the growth of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria during handling and storage under ideal refrigeration conditions and even under abusive temperature conditions [7,12,13]
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