Autochthonous starter culture selection for PGI Salama Piemonte production throug the microbiota analysis
(2021)Abstract
The manufacture and sensorial properties of artisanal fermented foods relies on complex and poorly defined microbial consortia activities. This PhD research project aimed at investigating the diversity, dynamics and functional role of the microbiota involved in a specific Mediterranean fermented foods, PGISalame Piemonte. Another aim was to develop new starter cultures composed of autochthonous strains to improve overall product quality. Culture-dependent and -independent methods were applied on threedifferent batches of naturally fermented sausages allowing to decipher bacterial and fungal diversity and dynamics of Salame Piemonte which was characterized by the dominance of a limited number of lactic acidbacteria (LAB), coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) and fungal species.Sausages from the different batches were different when the volatilome was taken into consideration, and a strong association between quality attributes and LAB strains present was determined. Finally, autochthonous starter cultures were developed and evaluated for sausage preparation at a pilot-scale and promising results were obtained showing the interest of using autochthonous starter cultures to improve product sensorial properties.