| Abstract [eng] |
Introduction. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are the most popular microbial cultures used in the preparation of fermented foods (Bintsis, 2018). Due to their wide range of antimicrobial activity, LAB have been shown to improve safety, nutritional and sensory characteristics, control fermentation by microflora and speed maturation, as well as increase the shelf life of products (Des et al., 2018). Recently, as a new approach for the application of technological starters, great interest has been concentrated on their biodegradation and/or absorption properties of non-desirable chemical compounds, and it was reported that LAB can reduce polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic aromatic amines (Bartkiene et al., 2017; Chiocchetti et al., 2018). However, fermented meat and meat products can be a source of biogenic amines (BAs), and relatively high concentrations of these compounds were reported in fermented sausages (EFSA, 2011; Özogul and Hamed, 2018), as well as in other foods (Capozzi et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2016; Li et al., 2018). Low concentrations of BAs are not toxic; however, putrescine and cadaverine can form carcinogenic nitrosamines, especially in meat products, where nitrite is used as a technological compound, also polyamines and diamines can form stable N-nitroso compounds (Eliassen et al., 2002). Therefore, the search for solutions to reduce undesirable microorganisms, as well as to decrease BAs and PAHs and control their levels in foods is very important. Also, attention has been paid to the meat products, with functional, as well as health promoting compounds, technologies development. For this reason, health enhancing ingredients such as plant based antioxidants, dietary fibers, and savory plants are rapidly increasing worldwide similar to natural bio-preservatives and value enriching compounds. Finally, it is very important to evaluate the risk of technological processes and to analyse the safety parameters of the final products, because separate ingredients can be general recognized as safe; however, during the technological processes various changes, desirable and non-desirable, can be initiated. |
