EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT STARTERS CULTURES IN THE OBTAITION OF ITALIAN-TYPE SAUSAGE

Abstract The Italian-Type Sausage produced in Brazil is predominantly obtained from swine meat, with maturation approximately 30 days, reaching pH around 5.3. The use of Lactobacillus bacteria as starter cultures provide fermentation processes and products more uniform and safe, reducing the maturation time due to the rapid formation of lactic acid, obtaining products with better sensorial, chemical and microbiological characteristics. Coagulase-negative staphylococci (commonly in S. xylosus and S. carnosus fermented meat products) have technological advantages such as nitrite and nitrate redutase activity, oxygen uptake and catalase activity that improve color stability and decrease the development of rancidity in the skin, contribute to the generation of flavor due to the proteolytic and lipolytic capacity. This work aimed to study the influence of different starters cultures (S. xylosus, S. carnosus, L. sakei and L. plantarum) combined with different concentrations of glucose substrate (40.5 and 99.5%) in properties of Italian-Type Sausage, as well as the influence of their concentration on starter performance. During the processing and shelf life the sausages were evaluated in relation to physic-chemical, microbiological and sensorial characteristics. In all samples of Italian-type Sausages have similar behavior in relation to physical-chemical parameters (moisture, protein, and fat). There was no growth of undesirable micro-organisms in the samples after 60 days of shelf life. By the sensorial analysis, the sample with low concentration of substrate (40.5%) and with S. carnosus and L. sakei cultures was the one that received the best grades and better acceptance by the tasters, and presented values of nitrites and nitrites according to the legislation.