Influence of a Native Strain of Staphylococcus xylosus on the Microbiological, Physicochemical and Sensorial Characteristics on Milano Salami Type

In this work, the influence of native starter cultures on the microbiological, physicochemical and sensorial characteristics of Milano salami type was studied. Two batches of Milano salami type were produced: Batch A, with the addition of Staphylococcus xylosus U5 and Batch B (control) without the starter culture. The Milano salami type was characterized by an important microbial activity of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) that resulted in substantial growth in Batch A during the ripening with an initial count of 7.60 log cfu.g and reached 9.84 log CFU.g after 14 days. Bacterial enzymes that showed efficient activity under the conditions found in Milano salami type were catalase, nitrite and nitrate reductase, contributing for sensory and physicochemical properties of the product. There were no significant differences in general free fatty acids composition among the batches, while the color parameters (L *, a * and b *) in the Batch A presented significantly higher values in relation to Batch B. Moreover, batch A had the higher preference in sensorial analysis.