Effectiveness of a Lactobacillus sakei Starter Culture in the Reduction of Biogenic Amine Accumulation as a Function of the Raw Material Quality

The effectiveness of an amine-negative starter culture (Lactobacillus sakei CTC494) in the reduction of biogenic amine production during the ripening of fermented sausages was examined. Four batches were manufactured in parallel:spontaneously fermented and starter-mediated sausages were manufactured from two lots of raw materials of different hygienic quality. Besides the biogenic amine contents, changes in the microbial counts, nitrogenous fractions, pH, and water content were measured at several sampling points during the ripening process. In sausages manufactured from good quality meat, the starter strain of L. sakei reduced and even inhibited biogenic amine accumulation during sausage fermentation, the end products showing extremely low biogenic amine contents (tyramine levels less than 15 mg/kg of dry matter and putrescine and cadaverine levels less than 5 mg/kg of dry matter). Nevertheless, starter-mediated sausages made from poorer-quality raw materials showed much higher amine contents (308, 223, and 36 mg/kg of dry matter of cadaverine, tyramine, and putrescine, respectively), which were only slightly lower than those of the spontaneously fermented sausages made from the same raw materials. The relatively high bacterial numbers of raw materials of poorer-hygienic quality diminished the beneficial effect of the starter strain. Therefore, the effectiveness of the starter was strongly dependent on the hygienic quality of the raw materials used.