Functional Meat Products 433
capsulation technique for protecting probi-
otic bacteria during sausage processing.
Most studies on utilization of probiotic
strains for meat fermentation have focused
on the growth of bacteria in meat and their
infl uence on the sensory properties and inac-
tivation of pathogenic bacteria. Bunte et al.
(2000) and Jahreis et al. (2002) carried out
studies on the utilization of probiotic lacto-
bacilli for moist types of sausages. Their
studies using healthy volunteers demon-
strated that the ingestion of such products
fermented with probiotic strains of L. para-
casei LTH2579 had some benefi cial physio-
logical effects. The levels of CD4 T helper
cells were elevated and the phagocytosis
index increased after ingestion of the product.
Further assessment of the relationship
between ingestion of meat products with pro-
biotic bacteria and human health are needed
from various viewpoints.
Prebiotics and Synbiotics
In addition to probiotics, much attention
has been paid to prebiotics in the food indus-
try. Prebiotics is initially defi ned as “ non -
digestible food ingredients that benefi cially
oped a salami product containing intestinal
bacterial strains ( Lactobacillus casei ,
Lactobacillus casei , Bifi dobacterium spp.) in
- In the same year, a Japanese producer
also launched a meatspread product (Fig.
24.6 ) fermented with intestinal lactobacilli
( L. rhamnosus FERM P - 15120). L. rhamno-
sus FERM P - 15120 has been screened from
the collection of human intestinal lactobacilli
(Sameshima et al. 1998 ).
Arihara et al. (1998) have shown that L.
gasseri JCM1131 is applicable for meat fer-
mentation as a potentially probiotic strain.
Erkkil ä et al. (2000, 2001a, b) tested the
applicability of probiotic strains L. rhamno-
sus GG, LC - 705 and VTT - 97800 to dry
sausage fermentation. They found that strains
GG and E - 97800 are suitable for use as
probiotic starter cultures in fermenting dry
sausage. Furthermore, several studies dem-
onstrated the possibility of utilizing probiotic
strains of lactic acid bacteria and bifi dobac-
teria for meat products (Leroy et al. 2006 ;
Pennacchia et al. 2004, 2006 ; Klingberg
et al. 2005 ; Klingberg and Budde 2006 ;
Rebucci et al. 2007 ; Ruiz - Moyano et al.
2008 ). Muthukumarasamy and Holly ( 2006 ,
2007 ) studied the effectiveness of a microen-
Figure 24.6. Fermented meat spread product “ Breadton, ” utilizing the intestinal lactobacilli (Prima Meat
Packers, Ltd., Japan).