Species Pervasiveness Within the Group of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci Associated With Meat Fermentation Is Modulated by pH.

During spontaneous meat fermentations, , , and are generally the most prevailing species within the communities of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS). There is an interest to introduce CNS isolates from artisan-style spontaneous meat fermentations as starter cultures in more industrialized processes, as to confer additional quality benefits. However, staphylococcal competitiveness within the meat matrix is affected by the processing conditions, which vary considerably among product types.

Pervasiveness of Staphylococcus carnosus over Staphylococcus xylosus is affected by the level of acidification within a conventional meat starter culture set-up.

Staphylococcus carnosus and Staphylococcus xylosus are commonly used, individually or in combination, within conventional starter cultures for the purposes of colour and flavour development during meat fermentation. Yet, little is known about the relative importance of both species under different processing conditions. The present study aimed at investigating the competitiveness of S.