Temperature abuse of meat during deboning, cutting, storage and/or
distribution can potentially allow the microbiota including Salmonella to
multiply (EFSA & ECDC, 2012). However, in Danish sausage production
freezing of the meat prior to mincing is common practice. It is thus likely
that raw meat for sausage production may contain Salmonella in both
exponential and stationary growth phases. We speculated whether a
combination of temperature abuse of meat and freezing may cause Salmonella in either stationary or exponential phases to grow during
sausage fermentation.
In this study we investigated the survival of two strains of Salmonella
enterica ssp. enterica serovar Typhimurium in exponential and stationary
growth phase 1) during freezing in minced meat, and 2) during subsequent
fermentation in sausages in the presence or absence of a
commercial starter culture and NaNO2. The latter was included to
mimic both traditional as well as organic sausage productions. The outcome
of this study contributes information for intervention and assessment
of consumer risk from Salmonella in fermented sausages.