Effect of chitosan–essential oil, a surface mold inhibitor, on microbiological and physicochemical characteristics of semidried fermented sausages

Abstract

Mold growth on sausage casing during processing is an important problem in fermented sausages. In this work, sausages were dipped into 1% chitosan (C), 1% thyme essential oil in 1% chitosan (CT), 1% rosemary essential oil in 1% chitosan (CR), 20% potassium sorbate (PS) as chemical antifungal, and 1% acetic acid solution (AA) as chitosan solver, or distilled water (DW) as control after fermentation (at day 4). The changes in microbiological (total viable count, lactic acid bacteria [LAB], Micrococcaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, and mold and yeast counts) and physicochemical attributes of the sausages during 12 days of processing were monitored. As expected, LAB were the most dominant microbiota in fermented sausages and the dipping process did not have any negative effect. Additionally, the treatment with C, CT, and CR suppressed the growth of spoilage microorganisms, which resulted in a significant reduction (P < 0.01) of about 1.4 to 1.6 log CFU/g in Enterobacteriaceae counts at day 12. The C, CT, and CR similarly suppressed the growth of fungi in the interior of the sausages, and the antifungal treatment significantly reduced (P < 0.01) the load of fungi on the casing. Throughout the study, approximately log counts of 3 and 4 in lower molds and yeasts in the casings treated with PS and CR were found, respectively, as compared to DW. Finally, the microbial quality of the end product was notably improved.

Effects of different temperatures on the quality characteristics of turkey sausage and changes during storage time

“…As a result of the study, a significant increase was determined in the LAB count of turkey sausage during fermentation (P< 0.05), and it was found to be 8.13 log cfu/g (Table 1). This increase may be related to fermentation temperature, relative humidity change, the initial load of meat, pH changes, and starter culture addition (Bozkurt and Erkmen, 2007;Küçükkaya et al 2020). Furthermore, as a result of the thermal treatment application, a decrease (P< 0.05) in the LAB count varying between 2 and 3 log was observed (Table 1).…”

Zingiber zerumbet L. essential oil‐based chitosan nanoemulsion as an efficient green preservative against fungi and aflatoxin B1 contamination

“…To conquer these disadvantages of EOs, the current trend of nanoencapsulation could serve as a promising tool for improving its efficacy as well as stability. Although a number of nanoencapsulating agents have been exploited to entrap the EOs, among them chitosan is gaining momentum due to improved physical stability, easy availability, biocompatibility, biodegradability, frequent emulsion forming properties, and most importantly because of “Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS)” status (Küçükkaya, Arslan, DemirokSoncu, Ertürk, & Soyer, 2020; Mohammadi, Hashemi, & Hosseini, 2016; Rajaei et al., 2017). Hence, the encapsulation of EOs into chitosan matrix is the major focus for its practical employment in different food industries.…”