Exploring lot-to-lot variation in spoilage bacterial communities on commercial modified atmosphere packaged beef.

Exploring lot-to-lot variation in spoilage bacterial communities on commercial modified atmosphere packaged beef. Food Microbiol. 2017 Apr;62:147-152 Authors: Säde E, Penttinen K, Björkroth J, Hultman J Abstract Understanding the factors influencing meat bacterial communities is important as these communities are largely responsible for meat spoilage. The composition and structure of a bacterial community on a high-O2 modified-atmosphere packaged beef product were examined after packaging, on the use-by date and two days after, to determine whether the communities at each stage were similar to those in samples taken from different production lots. Furthermore, we examined whether the taxa associated with product spoilage were distributed across production lots. Results from 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing showed that while the early samples harbored distinct bacterial communities, after 8-12 days storage at 6 °C the communities were similar to those in samples from different lots, comprising mainly of common meat spoilage bacteria Carnobacterium spp., Brochothrix spp., Leuconostoc spp. and Lactococcus spp. Interestingly, abundant operational taxonomic units associated with product spoilage were shared between the production lots, suggesting that the bacteria enable to spoil the product were constant contaminants in the production chain. A characteristic succession pattern and the distribution of common spoilage bacteria between lots...
Source: Food Microbiology - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: Food Microbiol Source Type: research