Unusual friendship of durable sausages and bacteria

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Sausages, as a meat product, are classified in the largest group of meat products and are made by stuffing natural or artificial casings with a mixture of different types and quantities of chopped meat, fat, skins, entrails, connective tissue residues and additional ingredients. The characteristic properties of sausages come from the specificity of their production with regard to the composition, type of starter cultures, shape, size, preparation of the stuffing, and especially the type and amount of spices and additives added.

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Sausage, bratwurst, kielbasa or something else?

The Croatian word for sausage kobasica has an unclear origin. It is considered as an old loanword with the syllabic l present in all Slavic languages​, so the name for this meat product in Russia is kolbasa, and in Slovakia klobása. But most likely the word sausage is originated from the Turkish word kol basa, which means pressed by the hand. In English, the term sausage is derived from the Latin word salsisium, which means salted.

Did you know that sausages are older than Greeks and Romans?

Sausages are older than ancient Greece and Rome and it is assumed that they were first made by the Sumerians about 3000 years BC. They used salt (source - autor: youtube.com - Walton’s Inc.) and spices for canning because it was the only way to preserve the quality of the meat and prevent it from spoiling. Namely, salt by binding water creates an unfavorable environment for the reproduction of microorganisms.

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Sausage sales more than double the sales of burgers and grilled meats. Sausages also seem to love grilling!

Production of sausages

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1. Prepare the meat for grind

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2. Weigh meat per recipe and calculate sea salt and instacure

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3. Activate starter culture mixing with warm de-chlorinated water

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4. Prepare spices and powered dextrose

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5. Grind meat

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6. Mix salt and spices

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7. Knead in starter culture

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8. Stuff out sausage

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9. Hang to ferment

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10. Transfer to refrigerator to dry

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Production of sausages using starter cultures

What are starter cultures?

Selected starter cultures for the production of fermented meat products must not produce biogenic amines from amino acids because biogenic amines present at higher concentrations can have harmful effects on human health. The presence of biogenic amines, and especially of histamines in meat and meat products, has multiple implications - it warns that the raw material for these products is of questionable hygienic quality or that the amount of biogenic amines has increased during the product ripening. Such products have harmful effects on human health (especially histamine).

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According to durability, sausages can be divided into:

- durable (dried and smoked, durability up to 120 days)
- semi-durable (ham salami, Tyrolean, boloney sausage, durability up to 45 days)
- hot dogs with a short expiry date.

Durable sausages are a specific group of meat products that are not submitted to heat treatment in the production process. Depending on the technological equipment and production conditions, durable sausages can be produced in the traditional way which comprises a longer fermentation and drying process (3-6 weeks or more, depending on the type and diameter of the sausage cover) or the rapid fermentation process by adding fermentation-enhancing substances.

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As starter cultures, lactic acid bacteria from the genera Lactobacillus and Pediococcus are most commonly used in the production of fast fermented sausages. With the use of starter cultures, the process of fast fermented sausages production is shortened, the product quality is improved, and better uniformity and sustainability are achieved.

The starter culture achieves dominant growth by comparison with the microbiota, which may be present in fresh meat because the production conditions are optimal for the growth and development of the starter culture, which contributes to product safety. It causes a reduction of pH value that protects from spoilage, and the products of metabolism of added starter culture also contribute to the characteristic properties of the products that develop during the milk fermentation, achieving the desired color, taste and aroma of the sausages.

Each of the added starter cultures has its role in the sausage fermentation. Thus, the starter cultures of the genera Pediococcus and Lactobacilus were introduced primarily for fermentation of its products, and their ability to inhibit the undesirable microorganisms from the genera Salmonella, Escherichia and Bacillus was shown as their desirable characteristic. The bacterial species Lactobacillus sake is used as a protective culture in the production of fermented meat products because it prevents the growth of Listeria monocytogenes. Bacterial species from the genera Staphylococcus and Micrococcus reduce nitrates, break down hydrogen peroxide, and by their lipolytic and proteolytic action produce aromatic components that contribute to the aroma and taste of the product.

Do you know what the astronauts ate on their missions? Have you heard of a museum dedicated to sausages in Holzhausen?

The museum dedicated to sausages exists in Germany because sausage is their traditional dish, as well as it is in Taiwan. Interestingly, the Smithsonian Museum in the United States keeps a space sausage in a glass cabinet because the sausage was among the favorite foods that astronauts ate on Apollo missions.