Research on the use of starter cultures in
meat products began in the United States in
the 1940s, inoculating the batter with lactobacilli, with the aim being to govern and
accelerate fermentation. In the late fifties,
the Finn Niinivaara (1955) helped to launch
this idea in Europe, developing mixed cultures of Micrococcus sp. and Pediococcus
cerevisiae. After this experience, a first generation of meat starter bacterial cultures,
generally based on microorganisms derived
from cultures for vegetable fermentation,
was developed. These bacterial cultures,
mainly selected for their acidification
pro perties, were usually composed of L.
plantarum and members of the genus
Pediococcus. Successively, a new generation
of starter cultures composed of strains isolated from meat, such as L. sakei and coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS), was
developed that harbored phenotypic traits
of technological relevance (Buckenh ü skes
1994 ). This second generation is now widely
used in the industrial processes of fermented
meat production.