Wakalim is spiced naturally fermented traditional beef sausage in
Ethiopia. During its fermentation using pure starter cultures of Lactobacillus
plantarum1 or Pediococcus pentosaceus1 and mixture of the two starters, the
counts of Salmonella typhimurium DT104 and Escherichia coli dropped
sharply after 12 h of fermentation and complete elimination was noted on the
third or fourth day. The count of Staphylococcus aureus dropped gradually but
remained at < log 4 cfu/g at the end of fermentation. The pathogens were
eliminated faster with the mixed cultures than with the respective pure cultures.
The pH of fermenting wakalim dropped from about 6.0 to 4.5 ± 0.2 during the
first 48 h of fermentation. Thereafter, the pH rose gradually in all cases
possibly due to depletion of fermentable sugars and growth of proteolytic
microorganisms. LAB obtained from the spontaneous fermentation of wakalim
may have potential for large scale application as starter cultures.