Staphylococcal ecosystem of kitoza, a traditional malagasy meat product

• Published in: International journal of food microbiology Vol. 246; pp. 20 - 24
• Main Authors: Ratsimba, Angela, Leroy, Sabine, Chacornac, Jean Paul, Rakoto, Danielle, Arnaud, Elodie, Jeannoda, Victor, Talon, Régine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 04.04.2017; Elsevier BV; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Bacteria; Beef; Biodiversity; Cattle; Central nervous system; Coagulase; Cooking; Dominant species; Drying; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; Food Microbiology - methods; Food Preservation; Food safety; Genetic Variation; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Hygiene; Kitoza; Life Sciences; Madagascar; Meat; Meat products; Meat Products - microbiology; Microorganisms; Pork; Red Meat - microbiology; Salting; Smoking; Sodium Chloride - chemistry; Spices; Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcus; Staphylococcus - isolation & purification; Staphylococcus aureus - isolation & purification; Staphylococcus epidermidis; Starters; Sun-drying; Swine; Temperature; Kitoza; Beef; Sun-drying; Pork; Staphylococcus; Smoking; porc; smoke; beef; pork; sun; séchage; fumée; swine; bœuf; kitoza; soleil; smoking; staphylococcus; sun-drying
• ISSN: 0168-1605; 1879-3460
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2017.02.001

Kitoza is a traditional meat product from Madagascar manufactured with strips of pork or beef. The process includes a first step of salting and mixing with spices followed by sun-drying or smoking step. As salting and drying select coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS), our aim was to identify the CNS species in kitoza with the objective in the future of developing indigenous starters. Microbial analyses revealed that the only pathogenic bacterium enumerated was Staphylococcus aureus, which was found in 54% of the samples. The level of Enterobacteriaceae revealed a rather good hygienic quality of these products. CNS were confirmed in all the samples at high levels ranging from 5 to 7logcfu/g. Identification of CNS species in a large collection of 829 isolates revealed 9 identified species, 7 for beef and 8 for pork kitoza. There were significant difference in the distribution of CNS species according to the type of meat and the process. Staphylococcus saprophyticus was the dominant species for sun-dried or smoked beef and sun-dried pork kitoza (73–75%), while for smoked pork kitoza Staphylococcus equorum (26%), S. saprophyticus (23%), Staphylococcus succinus (23%) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (17%) co-dominated. Some CNS could be used as indigenous starters in particular to compete against S. aureus. •Kitoza is a malagasy meat products either salted/dried or salted/smoked.•High levels of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) were found in Kitoza.•A large collection of 829 CNS isolates was identified at species level.•Nine staphylococcal species were identified and some could be used as indigenous starters.