Specific metagenomic asset drives the spontaneous fermentation of Italian sausages

Metagenomics is a powerful tool to study and understand the microbial dynamics that occur during food fermentation and allows to close the link between microbial diversity and final sensory characteristics. Each food matrix can be colonized by different microbes, but also by different strains of the same species. In this study, using an innovative integrated approach combining culture-dependent method with a shotgun sequencing, we were able to show how strain-level biodiversity could influence the quality characteristics of the final product. The attention was placed on a model food fermentation process: Salame Piemonte, a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) Italian fermented sausage. Three independent batches produced in February, March and May 2018 were analysed. The sausages were manufactured, following the production specification, in a local meat factory in the area of Turin (Italy) without the use of starter cultures. A pangenomic approach was applied in order to identify and evaluate the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) population driving the fermentation process. It was observed that all batches were characterized by the presence of few LAB species, namely Pediococcus pentosaceus, Latilactobacillus curvatus and Latilactobacillus sakei. Sausages from the different batches were different when the volatilome was taken into consideration, and a strong association between quality attributes and strains present was determined. In particular, different strains of L. sakei, showing heterogeneity at genomic level, colonized the meat at the beginning of each production and deeply influenced the fermentation process by distinctive metabolic pathways that affected the fermentation process and the final sensory aspects.