Method and compostion for the production of fermented sausage

Claim 2

In the method of producing dry or semi-dry sausage wherein a meat emulsion is inoculated and fermented with lactic acid producing microorganisms, the improvement which comprises using Pediococcus pentosaceus ATCC 10791 as the lactic acid producing microorganism in the form of a starter culture concentrate containing from 10 8 to 10 13 viable cells per milliliter, the concentrate being added in an amount of from 0.1% to 10% based upon the weight of the meat emulsion.

Claim 3

In the method of producing dry or semi-dry sausage wherein a meat emulsion is inoculated and fermented with lactic acid producing microorganisms, the improvement which comprises using Pediococcus pentosaceus ATCC 10791 as the lactic acid producing microorganism in the form of a starter culture concentrate containing from 10 8 to 10 13 viable cells per milliliter, the concentrate being selected from the family consisting of freeze dried concentrates, frozen concentrates and liquid stabilized concentrates and being added in an amount of from 0.1% to 10% based upon the weight of the meat emulsion, and fermenting said meat emulsion until its pH is below about 5.0 by maintaining the emulsion at a temperature in the range of from 50° F. to 80° F. for not longer than 72 hours.

Claim 4

In the method of producing dry or semi-dry sausage wherein a meat emulsion is inoculated and fermented with lactic acid producing microorganisms, the improvement which comprises using Pediococcus pentosaceus ATCC 10791 as the lactic acid producing microorganism in the form of a starter culture concentrate containing from 10 8 to 10 13 viable cells per milliliter, the concentrate being selected from the family consisting of freeze dried concentrates, frozen concentrates and liquid stabilized concentrates and being added in an amount of from 0.1% to 10% based upon the weight of the meat emulsion, and fermenting said meat emulsion until its pH is below about 5.0 by maintaining the emulsion at a temperature in the range of from 50° F. to 80° F. for not longer than 72 hours.

Claim 5

The method of claim 2 wherein the fermentation is conducted at a temperature in the range of 60° to 80° F. for not longer than 48 hours.

Claim 6

In the method of producing dry or semi-dry sausage wherein a meat emulsion is inoculated and fermented with lactic acid producing microorganisms, the improvement which comprises using Pediococcus pentosaceus ATCC 10791 as the lactic acid producing microorganism in the form of a starter culture concentrate containing from 10 8 to 10 13 viable cells per milliliter, the concentrate being added in an amount of from 0.1% to 10% based upon the weight of the meat emulsion, and conducting the fermentation step at a temperature in the range of 70° to 80° F. for not more than 24 hours to obtain a pH of less than 5.0.

Claim 7

In the method of producing dry or semi-dry sausage wherein a meat emulsion is inoculated and fermented with lactic acid producing microorganisms, the improvement which comprises using Pediococcus pentosaceus ATCC 10791 as the lactic acid producing microorganism in the form of a starter culture concentrate containing from 10 8 to 10 13 viable cells per milliliter, the concentrate being added in an amount of from 0.1% to 10% based upon the weight of the meat emulsion, and conducting the fermentation step at a temperature in the range of 70° to 80° F. for not more than 24 hours to obtain a pH of less than 5.0.

Claim 8

The method of claim 4 wherein the starter culture concentrate is in the freeze-dried, frozen or liquid stabilized condition.

Claim 9

The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of adding a second microorganism as the lactic acid producing microorganism to the meat emulsion wherein said second microorganism is Pediococcus cerevisiae.

Claim 10

The method of claim 6 wherein said second mircroorganism is added in an amount of 33% to 67% by weight of the starter culture concentrate.

Claim 11

The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of adding a second microorganism as the lactic acid producing microorganism to the meat emulsion where said second microorganism is Streptococcus lactis.

Claim 12

The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of adding a second microorganism as the lactic acid producing microorganism to the meat emulsion wherein said second microorganism is member of the Micrococcus genus.

Claim 13

The method of claim 9 wherein the second microorganism is Micrococcus varians ATCC 15301 added in an amount of 10% to 30% by weight of the starter culture concentrate.