Microbial ecology of marinated meat products

www.elsevier.com/locate/meatsciMarinated meat products are consumed increasingly because they are convenient in meal preparing. In addition to sensory effects, marinating has been considered to increase product safety and shelf life quality. There are variations in meat marinating technologies around the world. In Finland, marinades are complex sauces which have a great effect on product appearance and taste. They are water-oil emulsions typically containing salt, sugar and acids (acetic, citric), rheology-improving additives (like xanthan gum and guar gum), antimicrobial agents (like sorbate and benzoate) spices and aroma strengtheners. The pH of these marinades is usually acidic, less than 5, so sugar is used to cut the edge of the acidic taste. Marinated meat products are usually packaged under modified atmospheres to prevent the growth of aerobic spoilage organisms. This results in the growth of psychrotrophic, anaerobic bacteria and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are the dominating spoilage organisms in these products. Marinating did not increase the shelf life of Finnish poultry products and it strongly selects certain spoilage-associated novel LAB species. Surprisingly, it did not have a strong inhibitory effect on Campylobacter. This may be due to the buffering capability of meat quickly neutralizing the pH of the acidic marinade. The change in the acidic pH towards neutrality also results in dissociation of the lipophilic acids making their antimicrobial effect nonexistent