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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Food Microbiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1457819

Microbial Landscape of Cooked Meat Products: Evaluating Quality and Safety in Vacuum-Packaged Sausages Using Culture-Dependent and Culture-Independent Methods Over One Year in a Sustainable Food Chain

Provisionally accepted
Wilson José F. Lemos Junior Wilson José F. Lemos Junior 1*Lucas Marques Costa Lucas Marques Costa 2Carlos Alberto Guerra Carlos Alberto Guerra 2Vanessa Sales de Oliveira Vanessa Sales de Oliveira 3Angela Gava Barreto Angela Gava Barreto 4Fabiano Alves de Oliveira Fabiano Alves de Oliveira 4Breno Pereira de Paula Breno Pereira de Paula 4Erick Esmerino Erick Esmerino 5Viviana Corich Viviana Corich 6Alessio Giacomini Alessio Giacomini 6André F. Guerra André F. Guerra 4
  • 1 Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy
  • 2 Independent researcher, Brazil, Brazil
  • 3 Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 4 Federal Center for Technological Education Celso Suckow da Fonseca, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 5 Fluminense Federal University, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 6 University of Padua, Padua, Veneto, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Over the last decades, advancements in process safety and quality methods have been significant, yet new challenges continue to emerge in the sustainable food supply chain.This study aims to investigate some physicochemical and microbiological parameters impacting meat products, particularly cooked sausages, within a sustainable supply chain, focusing on quality and spoilage populations, and syneresis formation under vacuum conditions. A comprehensive analysis was conducted on 355 samples collected over four seasons, using high-throughput sequencing (16S/ITS), microbiological and physicochemical (pH and water activity (aw)) assessments. The microbial growth predictor MicroLab_ShelfLife was employed, and Multiple Factor Analysis (MFA) and Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC) were utilized to understand how these variables influence the microbiome resilience of these products. Lactic and acetic acids were correlated with the sausages microbiome and covering liquid coating using metagenomic analyses. The study highlighted that 52% of the evaluated meat industries in Southeastern Brazil are implementing effective protocols for sustainable chain production. Results indicated that the durability of vacuum-packaged cooked sausages was primarily influenced by storage temperature (RV coefficient of 0.906), initial microbial load (0.755), and aw (0.624). Average microbial counts were 4.30 log cfu/g (initial), 4.61 (7°C/4 days), 4.90 (7°C/8 days), 6.06 (36°C/4 days), and 6.79 (36°C/8 days). Seasonal durability analysis revealed winter had the highest average durability of 45.58 days, while summer had the lowest at 26.33 days. Yeast populations, including Trichosporon sp. and Candida sp., were identified as key genera influencing spoilage dynamics. Additionally, Bacillus species emerged as dominant spoilage microorganisms, highlighting the need for new critical controls. This study demonstrates the impact of metagenomic approaches, including ITS and 16S amplicon sequencing, in revealing microbial community dynamics, storage temperature and aw essential for developing targeted interventions to enhance food safety and quality sustainably.

    Keywords: Sausage microbiome, sustainable production, Quality methods, Cooked meat, Meat

    Received: 01 Jul 2024; Accepted: 08 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lemos Junior, Marques Costa, Alberto Guerra, Sales de Oliveira, Gava Barreto, Alves de Oliveira, Pereira de Paula, Esmerino, Corich, Giacomini and Guerra. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Wilson José F. Lemos Junior, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.