Characterization and selection of lactobacilli isolated from Spanish fermented sausages

The use of starter cultures to control and run the fermentative process is a usual way of manufacturing sausages in meat industries. The first stage in the starter culture designing process is to characterize the lactic acid bacteria isolated from these meat products, in order to select the best strains. The strains used for this study were isolated from different dry fermented sausages, obtained during the manufacturing process. The main tests used to identify the isolated bacteria were: microscopic-morphologic characteristics, catalase activity, production of gas, growth at 8, 15 and 45 degrees C, fermentation of carbohydrates and production of lactic acid isomers. A total of 194 strains were identified. Lactobacillus sake and Lactobacillus plantarum were the most frequent species. Other microbiological tests were also performed, and three strains of Lactobacillus sake were found which did not produce dextran from sucrose.