Prevention of ropiness in cooked pork by bacteriocinogenic cultures

Several bacteriocinogenic lactic acid bacteria and some bacteriocins were assessed as biopreservatives on the prevention of the slime production in sliced vacuum-packed cooked pork. Enterococcus faecium CTC492 and Lactobacillus sakei CTC494, bacteriocin producers, prevented ropiness due to Lb. sakei CTC746 to a different extent. Ent., faecium CTC492 plus enterocins and Lb. sakei CTC494 plus sakacin prevented slime production by Lb. sakei CTC746 until 21 days of storage at 8 C as well as enterocins did. Nisin inhibited the defect when Lc. carnosum CTC747 was the slime producer strain. The capability of the bacteriocins to resist the pasteurization protocol and their interaction with the meat matrix were studied. The interaction with the soluble meat matrix did not alter the activity of sakacin and nisin, but affected the activity of enterocins by a 2 log(2) AU mL(-1) decrease. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.