Injury to Staphylococcus aureus during sausage fermentation

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus 196E added to a beef sausage containing starter culture and 0.5 to 2.0% glucose and incubated at 35 degrees C was unable to grow when plated on tryptic soy agar (TSA) containing 7.5% NaCl. The injury, presumed to be due to the lactic acid produced during fermentation, was more pronounced at the lower concentrations of glucose (and lower acid levels). In the absence of glucose and/or starter culture, no injury was observed. When sausages containing S. aureus injured by fermentation at 35 degrees C were incubated at 5 degrees C, the counts on TSA (measures both injured and uninjured cells) and TSA containing 7.5% NaCl (measures uninjured cells only) remained constant; however, upon reincubation of the cold-stored sausage at 35 degrees C, the staphylococcus counts on TSA and TSA containing 7.5% NaCl and were similar to the counts of S. aureus present in fermenting sausages that had never been subjected to 5 degrees C. The demonstration of acid injury indicated that the injury phenomenon must be considered when determining numbers of viable S. aureus in fermented sausages.