Vacuum packaged beef with long shelf life : isolation and characterization of Carnobacterium strains

The lactic acid bacteria Carnobacterium divergens and Carnobacterium maltaromaticum are often associated to meat and meat products and may be used as a protective culture, improving the microbial stability and the safety of these products. In this context, the aim of this study was to isolate and characterize Carnobacterium from long shelf-life vacuum-packed beef. LAB counts after culture at +22°C remained below 2.0 log UFC/cm², even at the end of shelf life. On the other hand, the ecosystem evaluation performed by metagenomics revealed the predominance of Carnobacterium and Lactobacillus on the samples. After spreading of a peptone water suspension obtained from the samples on PCA, pure isolates were collected and identified by API 50 CHL galleries. Seventy-eight % of isolates were C. maltaromaticum, 3 % C. divergens and 19 % could not be identified. The next step of this work will consist in performing a genotypic and functional characterization of these Carnobacterium isolates.Conservation longue durée de la viande fraîche de bovins Blanc Bleu Belge : contraintes, évaluation et recommandation