Lactic Acid Bacteria as an Antispoilage and Safety Factor in Cooked, Mechanically Deboned Poultry Meat

Lactic acid starter cultures, Pediococcus cerevisiae ("Accel") and Lactobacillus ("Lactacel DS"), were inoculated in cooked, mechanically deboned poultry meat (MDPM) and used as repressors of three Pseudomonas species, Salmonella typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus . A 50-50 mixture of the two starter cultures was the most effective treatment for delaying the time necessary for three Pseudomonas species to attain 10⁷ cells/g, which was associated with the spoilage of MDPM. The mixture totally repressed growth of S. typhimurium and S. aureus . Changes in pH values during the storage period were too small to explain the repression observed.