title: Psychrotrophic members of Leuconostoc gasicomitatum, Leuconostoc gelidum and Lactococcus piscium dominate at the end of shelf-life in packaged and chilled-stored food products in Belgium.
abstract: Previously, a considerable underestimation (+0.5-3.2 log CFU/g) on the contamination levels of psychrotrophic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) was observed for 33 retail, packaged food products stored at chilling temperature when the mesophilic enumeration technique was implemented as reference shelf-life parameter. In the present study, the microbial diversity of the dominant psychrotrophic LAB recovered after incubation of plates at 22 °C for 5 days was determined using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. A total of 212 LAB isolates were identified using a combination of rep-PCR fingerprinting, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis and pheS gene sequencing. Leuconostoc gasicomitatum, Leuconostoc gelidum, Leuconostoc spp., Lactococcus piscium and Lactobacillus algidus proved to be the most competent and predominant species that may go undetected by the widely applied mesophilic enumeration protocols (ISO 4833:2003 and ISO 15214:1998). This study has assessed the interspecific variation among potential spoilage LAB, and highlights the significance of implementing a reference shelf-life parameter based on the enumeration of the total psychrotrophic bacterial load for industrial microbiological routine analyses.
authors.affiliation: LFMFP, Laboratory of Food Microbiology and Food Preservation, Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Member of Food2Know, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium. Electronic address: Vasileios.Pothakos@UGent.be.
authors.forename: Vasileios
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pothakos
authors.affiliation: BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, Member of Food2Know, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Snauwaert
authors.affiliation: LM-UGent, Laboratory of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, Member of Food2Know, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium; BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, Member of Food2Know, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: De Vos
authors.affiliation: LM-UGent, Laboratory of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, Member of Food2Know, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium; BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, Member of Food2Know, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Geert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huys
authors.affiliation: LFMFP, Laboratory of Food Microbiology and Food Preservation, Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Member of Food2Know, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Devlieghere
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001530:Belgium; D002417:Cattle; D003080:Cold Temperature; D018857:Food Packaging; D061353:Food Storage; D017045:Lactococcus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007934:Leuconostoc / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology*; D008461:Meat Products / Q000382:microbiology*; D013552:Swine; D014675:Vegetables / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: Dominant LAB; Lactococcus piscium; Leuconostoc gasicomitatum; Psychrotrophic; Species diversity; Spoilage