Isolation and characterization of Lactobacillus plantarum BLS29 as a potential probiotic starter culture for pork sausage production

The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from naturally fermented pork sausages and test them for use as a probiotic starter culture in the production of fermented sausages. LAB (n=26) were isolated from natural fermented pork sausages. Isolates were identified using 16S rDNA or Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region sequencing. After that, strains were characterized based on technological, functional and safety proprieties. A LAB strain was chosen and its survival was tested in simulated gastric juice and intestinal juice. Results indicate that Lactobacillus plantarum (n=15) was the predominant species in fermented sausage, followed by Enterococcus faecium (n=8), Lactobacillus brevis (n=1), Enterococcus durans (n=1) and Enterococcus hirae (n=1). L. plantarum BLS29 strain was selected because it was not able to produce CO2 and was able to multiply at temperatures ranging from 15 to 37°C, usually practiced during the sausage cure process. BLS29 showed better growth capacity than other isolated LABs when exposed to curing salts, and also demonstrated antimicrobial activity against foodborne pathogens. According to our findings, BLS29 can be a promising strain to be used as a probiotic starter culture for the production of fermented pork sausage.   Key words: Probiotics, Lactobacillus plantarum, fermented pork sausage.