Microbiological hazards and potential of spontaneously fermented game meat sausages: A focus on lactic acid bacteria diversity

Spontaneously fermented wild boar and deer meat sausages produced in Croatia were physicochemically and microbiologically investigated at different time points of their production. Final products resulted with pH and aw values between 5.04-5.53 and 0.83-0.87, respectively. The histamine concentration was below 5.0 mg/kg whereas tyramine content ranged from 47.3 to 219.0 mg/kg. A total of 917 isolated lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were genotyped by rep-PCR and identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Overall, Leuconostoc mesenteroides was identified as the most frequently isolated species (n = 259), followed by Lactobacillus sakei (n = 190) and Enterococcus casseliflavus (n = 106). Cluster analysis revealed a remarkable intraspecies diversity and a strong sausage-specific clustering of the LAB genotypes, indicating meat as a probable source of microbial diversity in sausages. 14.38% of LAB were positive for tyramine encoding gene and no other target biogenic amines genes were detected. Due to the elevated number of presumptive pathogens (E. coli. Enterobacteriaceae, B. cereus group, coliforms) in ready-to-eat sausages, 33.33% of products can be considered as inappropriate for human consumption.