Natural and artificial casings as bacteriocin carriers for the biopreservation of meats products

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine if natural and artificial casings (ovine, porcine, bovine, collagen and cellulose casings), serve as carriers for the application of the bacteriocin sakacin G produced by Lactobacillus curvatus ACU-1. Mode of action of the cell free supernatant (CFS) containing the bacteriocin was also studied in order to determine whether Listeria monocytogenes inhibition could be tantamount to Listeria innocua one. Cylindrical vessels were filled with sterile meat emulsion and were wrapped with the different casings. Half the systems were treated with the CFS containing sakacin G, while the other half was taken as control systems. All systems were 1 inoculated with Listeria innocua ATCC 33090. L. innocua was able to grow on all the studied casings. Collagen casing treated with CFS inhibited Listeria growth. A bacteriostatic effect was observed in the systems with porcine, ovine, bovine and cellulosic casings treated with CFS. The bacteriocin maintained its activity until the end of the trial. All casings were widely promising as antimicrobial application supports, being effective carriers to be used in a wide range of meat products.