Applications of protective cultures, bacteriocins and bacteriophages in fermented meat products

Abstract: Fermented sausages are considered self-stable products; nevertheless they have been implicated in several outbreaks. To increase food safety of fermented sausages and to cope with consumers’ demands for products with less chemical additives and less salt and fat content, biopreservation, understood to provide increased food safety and extension of shelf life by natural microbiota and/or their antimicrobial products, is considered an excellent alternative. Two major topics for biopreservation are considered in this chapter, lactic acid bacteria and their antimicrobial products and bacteriophages. Lactic acid bacteria have a long history of safe use, they are accepted by consumers as natural and health promoting and are the dominant natural microbiota of fermented meat products. Moreover, GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) bacteriophages used against specific food-borne pathogens do not disturb technological microbiota and could also be applied to the food environment.