Debaryomyces hansenii Strains from Valle De Los Pedroches Iberian Dry Meat Products: Isolation, Identification, Characterization, and Selection for Starter Cultures

Abstract

Yeasts, filamentous fungi, and bacteria colonize the surface of fermented sausages during the ripening process. The source of this microbiota is their surrounding environment, and is influenced by the maturing conditions and starter cultures. Debaryomyces hansenii was previously isolated from several dry-cured meat products and associated with the lipolytic and proteolytic changes that occur in these products, influencing their taste and flavor. Therefore, this study isolated the yeast microbiota present in the casing from different meat products ("lomo," "chorizo," and "salchichón") from the Valle de los Pedroches region in southern Spain. D. hansenii was by far the most abundant species in each product, as all 22 selected isolates were identified as D. hansenii by biochemical and/or molecular methods. In contrast, no yeasts were found in the meat batter. These data constitute the first study of the yeasts present in "lomo" sausages and particularly the highly appreciated Valle de los Pedroches "lomo" sausages. Furthermore, the resistance of these isolates to different pHs, temperatures, and saline stress was studied, together with their catabolic characteristics. Based on the results, certain isolates are proposed as valuable candidate starter cultures that could improve both the manufacture and the flavor of such dry-cured meat products, and provide an understanding of new mechanisms involved in stress tolerance. Applied mediumscale industrial tests are currently in progress.

A Physiological Characterization in Controlled Bioreactors Reveals a Novel Survival Strategy forDebaryomyces hanseniiat High Salinity and Confirms its Halophilic Behavior

“…From a biotechnological point of view, D. hansenii is considered of great interest, due to its salt tolerant character (Gadanho et al 2003;Butinar et al 2005;Prista et al 2005;Ramos et al 2017 among others), especially in food industry where it is used in the ripening process of sausages by production of exopeptidases, development of flavor characteristics, and production of cheeses among others (Lopez Del Castillo-Lozano et al 2007;Cano-Garcia et al 2014). Moreover, D.…”

The Microbiome of an Active Meat Curing Brine

“…Fermented foods have previously been investigated by microbiome analysis with great success, for example in the dairy industry (Walsh et al, 2016; Zalewska et al, 2017), the vegetable industry (Hong et al, 2016) and the meat industry (Fontana et al, 2016). Within the meat industry there has been a number of investigations into dry curing (Greppi et al, 2015; Polka et al, 2015; Ramos et al, 2017), however brine, as that used in the production of Wiltshire cured hams, has had little examination and characterization. Furthermore, studies often focus on detrimental bacteria (den Besten et al, 2017), while our goal is to characterize the beneficial bacteria by microbiome analysis in a productive brine.…”

Yeast Microbiota during Sauerkraut Fermentation and Its Characteristics

“…It occurs in many habitats with low water activity, it was also isolated from wine, beer, fruit, cheese, meat and soil as well as from high-sugar products [23]. The generation of volatile and aroma compounds by D. hansenii is considered an important contribution to the ripening process of cheeses and fermented sausages [24][25][26]. D. hansenii can prevent the formation of lipid oxidation products in fermented sausages, and contributes to improve sensory components, principally flavors, such as ethyl esters [26].…”

“…The generation of volatile and aroma compounds by D. hansenii is considered an important contribution to the ripening process of cheeses and fermented sausages [24][25][26]. D. hansenii can prevent the formation of lipid oxidation products in fermented sausages, and contributes to improve sensory components, principally flavors, such as ethyl esters [26]. Unfortunately, this yeast can also spoil brine-preserved foods, such as gherkins [23].…”