Lactic acid bacteria in hot smoked dry sausage (non-fermented salami): Thermal resistance of Weissella viridescens strains isolated from hot smoked dry sausages

- The strains of Weissella viridescens survived heat treatment in 0.9% NaCl.
- The strains could survive the core temperature 70 °C for 10 min in sausages.
- The strains of weissellas were able to multiply during sausage ripening.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the thermal resistance of Weissella viridescens strains isolated from the hot smoked dry sausages. The thermal resistance of W. viridescens was studied under laboratory conditions (0.9% NaCl; 50, 60 or 70 °C/5, 10 or 15 min, respectively) and in hot smoked dry meat products. Nine batches of hot smoked dry sausage were prepared differing in terms of the size of the inoculum of W. viridescens (3 log CFU/g of sausage batter, 4 log CFU/g) and the addition of dextrose (0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3%, respectively). W. viridescens was detected in samples with a lower concentration of inoculum only after 2 weeks of ripening, but in batches with a higher concentration of inoculum W. viridescens was detected immediately after cooking and the number of CFU exceeded 7 log/g during ripening. The addition of dextrose did not influence the growth of Weissella. Survival of the species W. viridescens in hot smoked dry sausages was also demonstrated under the conditions of industrial production.