Shelf-life improvement of horse meat by preservative lactic cultures

The aim of this work was to improve the Shelf-life of horse meat by applying lactic acid bacteria starter cultures directly on the meat samples. We selected some lactic cultures by isolating strains directly from pork sausage, and by identifying good phenotypic and metabolic traits, such as, lactic antagonism, good acidification and non-producing bacteriocins. These traits were exploited to reduce the indigenous, spoilage and pathogens microorganisms present in horse meat thus improving the Shelf-life.In particular, a Lactobacillus sakeii classified as GRAS (generally recognized as safe) was selected; the isolate was identified by phenotypic and molecular methods.The action of L. sakeii was assessed over 21 days the correspond to the entire commercial time of horse meat required by Italian large scale retail distribution. Microbiological analysis (aerobic mesophilic and psycrophilic count, lactic bacteria count and the search of clostridia) and sensorial analysis were carried out on two kind of meat cuts: minced and sliced horse meat inoculated with L. sakeii suspension and packaged in MAP condition (60% CO2, 40% N2). The results obtained showed that minced and slices horse meat treated with the lactic starter cultures preserved the sensorial and microbiological characteristics for over 21 days when stored at 4°C.Based on commercial and microbiological parameters, the inoculated horse meat showed good freshness property.