Macro‐ and microelements in the samples of virgin and cold pressed pumpkin seed oils produced in Croatia through two consecutive crop seasons were determined by inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectroscopy (ICP‐OES). Croatian oils were also compared to oils from Slovenia and Austria in order to assess differences in the element content. Magnesium, potassium, calcium, sodium, selenium, and iron were the dominant elements in all pumpkin seed oils. Their amounts together with barium, strontium, manganese, copper were up to ninefold higher ( p ≤ 0.05) in virgin compared to cold pressed pumpkin seed oils. These differences occur due to the different processing conditions which include salt addition, heat treatment, and higher degree of equipment ware out during virgin pumpkin seed oil production. As the sodium level increases with the addition of salt, virgin pumpkin seed oil could be considered its hidden source and producers should pay attention to the amount added. Contents of cobalt, copper, selenium, and thallium significantly differed ( p ≤ 0.05) between the two crop seasons. Principal component analysis revealed clear differences between samples with different origin that can be explained by the specifics in the production processes of each country. In comparison with Austrian and Slovenian, Croatian pumpkin seed oils had significantly lower contents of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and tin while bismuth and selenium were higher.

In this study, the dairy-originated bacteriocinogenic Enterococcus faecalis EF-101 strain was implemented in traditionally smoked Croatian home-made dry fermented sausages. During ripening, microbiological and physicochemical changes were observed, and the biogenic amines were monitored. The Enterococcus faecalis EF-101 count remained constant during the sausage ripening (10 5 CFU/g). There was no positive correlation of enterococci counts with cadaverine, histamine, tyramine, biogenic amines index, or total biogenic amines content in the sausages with added E. faecalis. The histamine and tyramine content correlated moderately with the lactic acid bacteria count in the control sausages. The total biogenic amines content was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the experimental sausages, however only on day 14 of ripening. The bacteriocinogenic strain of E. faecalis EF-101 reduced the histamine and cadaverine content, probably by reducing the aminogenic lactic acid bacteria population.