A population of pseudomonades of 107
– 108
CFU.g-1 causes slime to form on meat
and a bad smell to appear. Both these deviations appear, however, when pseudomonades
exhaust the glucose and lactic acid in the meat and begin to metabolise nitrogenous
compounds, particularly amino acids (Nychas et al. 2008). When the diffusion
gradient of glucose from lower layers of the meat towards the surface no longer serves
to cover the needs of a large number of bacteria, the degradation of amino acids
and proteins begins, accompanied by the release of ammonia, amines and sulphides