Handbook of Meat Processing

Mold-Ripened Sausages 367

actually gave a better organoleptic character-

istic. Even today, this yeast is widely used

in starter cultures (Selgas and Garcia 2007 ).

(See Chapter 10 on starter cultures in this

book for more details.) Species for possible

mold starters are less numerous than bacterial

starters, and not only species but also strains

of the same species have to be controlled

for nontoxicity. Even if this requirement

is fulfi lled, as with Penicillium nalgiovense,

P. camemberti, P. chrysogenum , and P. glad-

ioli , great care has to be taken in favor of

growth support of the starter cultures in

order that they are not outgrown by undesired

and invasive wild types. Spotti and Berni

( 2007 ) give a good summary on mold

starters, including such factors as their

growth requirements, speed, and enzymic

activity.

Smoking

In the case of traditional mold - ripened sau-

sages, the adjustment of a signifi cantly lower

temperature range is necessary during

smoking in the fi rst phase of ripening - drying

(10 ° – 15 ° C), since there is no pH - drop that

would inhibit the growth of undesired

microbes, and low temperature is the only

effi cient inhibitory factor against the growth

of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria. This dif-

ference in temperatures (compared with

starter culture fermentation technology) is

maintained at the beginning of ripening until

mold growth is initiated, since molds used as

starter cultures require higher temperatures.

In northern and eastern parts of Europe,

more or less intensive smoking is applied,

while in Mediterranean regions, smoking is

generally not applied.

In the case of mold - fermented sausages,

smoking is a delicate matter: mold starters

are usually not adapted to intensive smoking,

causing uneven, spotted growth on the

surface; intensive smoking on the other hand

has the valuable effect of antioxidative and

good sensoric nature. It is easier to form

color stability. For long - ripened mold -
fermented sausages, the application of mixed
cultures to the sausage is more common than
the use of lactobacilli alone.
It is important to note that incubation tem-
peratures of starter cultures differ in Europe
versus North America, where the usual tem-
perature goes above 30 ° C (32 – 37 ° C), while
it is below 30 ° C (20 – 24 ° C) in Europe, but
may be higher in some northern countries. At
these temperatures, the use of starter cultures
is also necessary for safety reasons, to sup-
press the growth potential of undesired
microbes.
In fermented dry sausages, bacteria and
yeasts are used as starter cultures in the
sausage mix, and in mold - ripened sausages,
the surface is inoculated by molds. In short -
ripened and dried sausages, emphasis is put
on the role of lactic starter cultures ( L. sakei,
L. curvatus, L. plantarum, L. rhamnosus,
Pediococcus acidilactici , and P. pentosa-
ceus ) for rapid pH - reduction; if aroma rich-
ness is preferred, then lactic starters are used
in combination with staphylococci and
Kocuria ( Staph. xylosus, S. carnosus, S.
equorum , and K. varians , to name the most
widely used ones; Cocconcelli 2007 ), or
these latter bacteria are utilized alone, too,
contributing basically to aroma and color for-
mation and color stability. Some starter and
other microbial cultures also produce, in
addition to lactic acid, specifi c antibacterial
substances, called bacteriocins, and these
protective or bioprotective cultures can be
effective against bacteria such as Listeria
monocytogenes, Cl. botulinum , and Staph.
aureus (Vignolo and Fadda 2007 ).
Since yeasts in great variety were earlier
isolated from fermented sausages, it was sup-
posed that they also contributed to aroma
formation because of their intensive enzymic
activity, including lipolytic and proteolytic
activity producing volatiles (Olesen and
Stahnke 2000 ). In 1977 , Coretti found that
Debaryomyces hanseni added to fermented
sausage in combination with lactobacilli