Effects of Lactobacillus plantarum NJAU-01 from Jinhua ham on the quality of dry-cured fermented sausage

The aim of this study was to study the effect of Lactobacillus plantarum NJAU-01 selected from the Jinhua ham as starter cultures on the quality of dry-cured fermented sausage. The physicochemical indexes including pH and water activity (Aw), color, texture and sensory properties of dry-cured fermented sausages with different concentrations of L. plantarum NJAU-01 (105 CFU/g, 107 CFU/g and 109 CFU/g) were evaluated during the ripening process. The pH of sausages in LP2 (107 CFU/g) and LP3 (109 CFU/g) groups significantly decreased to lower than 5.0 during ripening. The Aw of all group of sausages dropped to below 0.90 from the third week to the end of ripening. In addition, the color of dry-cured fermented sausages of all groups was significantly affected by ripening time (P < 0.05). The redness in LP1 group (105 CFU/g) was significantly higher than those in the control group at 14 and 21 days of fermentation. Hardness of treatments with starter culture continued to increase during the sausage ripening. Moreover, sensory evaluation revealed that there was no significant difference among treatments (P > 0.05). The results show that L. plantarum NJAU-01 has potential to be a starter culture for the production of dry-cured fermented sausages.