The objective of this paper was to add native starter cultures in fermented Italian sausages and evaluate the performance compared to commercial cultures in terms of microbiological and physicochemical parameters and sensorial characteristics. The cultures used were Staphylococcus xylosus, isolated from colonial sausages, and Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis isolated from a dairy product and fermented in pork plasma medium. The following treatments were performed: T1 - addition of commercial starters (Staphylococcus xylosus and Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis); T2 - mixture of isolated Staphylococcus xylosus plus commercial Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis; T3 - mixture of isolated Lactococcus lactis ssp lactis plus commercial Staphylococcus xylosus; and T4 - Staphylococcus xylosus and Lactococcus lactis ssp lactis both isolated. The treatments showed a significant decrease of pH and reduction in the Aw ensuring microbiological safety to the products. With regard to lipid oxidation, the treatments that contained isolated strains of Staphylococcus xylosus presented significantly lower values than the other treatments. The sausages elaborated with Staphylococcus xylosus and Lactococcus lactis ssp lactis, both strains isolated, presented better sensorial results than the sausages elaborated with commercial starter cultures. Therefore, the addition of native starter cultures can be used in the elaboration of fermented Italian sausages providing safe products with differentiated flavor.
native starter cultures; sausages; Staphylococcus xylosus; Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis
