Relationships between bacterial community and metabolites of sour meat at different temperature during the fermentation

• Published in: International journal of food microbiology Vol. 307; p. 108286
• Main Authors: Lv, Jing, Yang, Zhaoxia, Xu, Wenhuan, Li, Shengjie, Liang, Huipeng, Ji, Chaofan, Yu, Chenxu, Zhu, Beiwei, Lin, Xinping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 16.10.2019; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Amino acid; Amino acids; Benzaldehyde; Correlation analysis; Ethnic factors; Fermentation; Flavor; Hexanal; Lactic acid; Lactobacillus; Meat; Meat production; Metabolites; Microbial community; Minority & ethnic groups; Odor; Odors; Organic compounds; pH effects; Redundancy; Shelf life; Sour meat fermentation; Temperature; Temperature effects; VOCs; Volatile organic compound; Volatile organic compounds; Water activity; Temperature; Volatile organic compound; Sour meat fermentation; Amino acid; Flavor; Microbial community
• ISSN: 0168-1605; 1879-3460
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2019.108286

This study was designed to explore the temperature effects on bacterial communities and metabolites, as well as their relationships during the fermentation of sour meat, a traditional fermented meat product in the ethnic minority regions of China. Results showed that reduction of pH and increase of lactic acid and free amino acid contents occurred (p < 0.05) as the fermentation temperature and time increased, and the tendency was more apparent at higher temperature. During the fermentation, Lactobacillus gradually replaced other genera, and higher the temperature, more rapid was the process. Both the number and amount of volatile organic compounds increased at higher temperatures. Hexanal, benzaldehyde, nonanal, (E,E)-2,4-decadienal, 1-octen-3-ol and octanal were identified as the key volatile organic compounds produced by Lactobacillus in sour meat as main contributors to odor as confirmed by variable importance in the projection analysis. Redundancy analysis and Pearson correlation showed positive correlation between Lactobacillus and desired product characteristics, such as higher content of lactic acid, free amino acids, volatile organic compounds, and lower pH and water activity values, which may represent a better quality and longer shelf life after fermentation at higher temperature. Therefore fermentation at 20 °C and 25 °C are proposed as optimum temperatures for sour meat production. •Faster fermentation process of sour meat were obtained at higher temperatures (20 °C and 25 °C).•There were more abundant metabolites in batches of higher fermentation temperatures.•Lactobacillus was the dominant genus eventually.•Lactobacillus was positively related to the desirable quality and flavor of sour meat.