Fermentation of Meat and Fish

Presented by Arisha Rasheed

Presented to Dr.Nasir Ahmad
 Fermentation

Fermentation is the transformation of organic substances into

simpler compounds by the action of enzymes and
microorganisms. (Mackei et.al.1971)
• Prolong the shelf life of meat and fish products

• Known since ancient times.

• Sausages probably are the oldest form of processed food.

• Ancient Egyptians preserved meat by salting and sun drying.

• 1921 , microorganisms contribute to the production of sausages.

• 1940s and 1950s, use of pure microbial starter cultures

• Some patents were awarded

 Fermentation Of Meat

• Meat is extremely susceptible to microbial spoilage.

• Water activity and pH are 0.96 to 0.97 and 5.6 to 5.8, respectively
• Nutrients and growth factors are abundantly available.

The traditional methods use

1. water activity ( drying, salting) and/ or pH (fermentation, acidification)
2. smoking, storage at refrigeration or freezing temperatures
3. use of curing aids (nitrite and nitrate)
Fermentation process : two types

1. Foods from a comminuted matrix

2. Whole meat products.

 Fermentation Of A Comminuted Meat Matrix
Variables in sausage production
• Particle size of the comminuted meat and fatty tissue (1 and 30 mm)
• Selection of additives (curing salt, nitrate, ascorbic acid, sodium glutamate and
glucono-∂-lactone -source glucose).
• Temperature /humidity (below 2 to 3℃, the temperature is raised usually to ＞ 20℃
and ＞ 28℃)
• Maximum higher temperatures (32 to 38℃).
• Heating after fermentation
• Establishing a special tight surface film (e. g. coating with a titanium dioxide film)
• Dipping in antifungal agent ( sorbic acid or pimaricin)
• pH-4.8 to 5.4
 What is Fermented Sausage?

A sausage is fermented if
• its pH below 5.6
• D-lactic acid content above 0.2%
• Colour is heat-stable
• Texture is no longer crumble
• Aroma is typical
• Lactic acid bacteria predominate
• Enterobacteriaceae counts are low
 Species Employed in Meat Starter Cultures

• Bacteria: Lactic Acid Bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lb. alimentarius, Lb.
curvatus, Lb. plantarum etc, Lactococcus lactis, Pediococcus acidilactici, P. pentosaceus
• Actinobacteria : Kocuria varians, Streptomyces griseus, Bifidobacterium spp.
• Staphylococci: Staphylococcus xylosus, S. carnosus ssp.
• Halomonadaceae : Halomonas elongata
• Fungi: Penicillium nalgiovense, P. chrysogenum, P. camemberti
• Yeasts: Debaryomyces hansenii, Candida famata
 Classification of Whole Meat Products

1. Classical Ham- Made

2. Cuts of Meat-Pork
3. Other Animal Sources- beef
4. Mutton
 Fermentation of Whole Meat Products

• Curing by salting (with or without the use of nitrite and/or nitrate)

• Achieve a water activity of ∠0.96 (equivalent to 4.5% sodium chloride)
• Temperature (50C)―the salt will diffuse to the deepest part of meat
• Overcoming food poisoning through Clostridium botulinum contamination.
• After equilibrating the salt concentration and flavor development
• Temperature is raised to 15 to 250C to ripen meat.
• Optimum flavor has no changed at least 6 to 9 months, maximum 18th month.
• At the end of ripening step, the moisture has been reduced by 25%
 Composition and Changes During Fermentation

• Growth of (lactic acid producing bacteria) LAB and concomitant acidification of the
product.

• Reduction of nitrates to nitrites and formation of nitrosomyoglobin

• Solubilization and gelification of miofibrillar and sarcoplasmic proteins

• Degradation of proteins and lipids

• Dehydration
 Fermentation of Fish

Fermentation is an old technology of preservation of highly perishable fresh water or

marine animals. It is described as a process in which the complex protein molecules in
the fish are broken down by the action of organic catalyst; enzymes into simple protein
molecule.
 Types Of Fermented Fishery Products

I. Products primarily involving enzymatic hydrolysis.

ii. Products preserved by microbial fermentation.
Different processes employed in the fermentation of fish yield three distinct types of
products

I. Fish sauces in which the fish meat is reduced to a liquid

II. Products in which the fish substantially retains its original form
III. Products in which the original fish is reduced to the form of a paste
Fermented fishery products can also classified into 3 categories –
I. High salt -20% or more salt
II. Low salt-6-18% salt
III. No salt
 Preparation of Fish Sauce

• Fish sauce is the most important fermented fishery product

• Salt is the main constituent, comprising up to 30%.
• Protein comes next, varying from 6–12%.

The processing of fish into sauce involves

i. Hydrolysis of fish protein to peptides and water soluble amino acids
ii. Time of sauce fermentation varies from 6 months to 1 year.
iii. Aging is an important step
iv. Helps to develop aroma characteristic to sauce.
 Fermented Fish

• Different from fish sauce , fermented fish is a product in which the identity of the fish
is maintained to a large extent.
Fermented herring and anchovy are very popular in the West, products locality called
• makassar(Indonesia)
• buro(Philippines)
• pekasam (Malaysia)
Colombo cured fish is a well known product
 Paste Fishery Products

• Process employed for making all fermented fish pastes are essentially similar.

• Fish is sun dried for varying periods

• It is sealed in containers from which air is excluded for maturing.

• Moisture content of the final product is in the range 30-40%.

 Benefits Of Using Fermented Meat And Fish
Beneficial Microorganisms

• Benefits of fermented fish and meat products are the lactic-acid-producing bacteria
(LAB)
• Eating fermented foods supports human gut microbiota

Friendly flora in the gut support

• Healthy immune system
• Digestive and mental health
• Enhance detoxification
 Enhanced Nutritional Content

• Fermented protein-rich food (such as fish) enhances the overall protein content
• Bioavailability of the protein in the food
• In numerous studies, LAB present in fermented foods have been shown to produce
vitamins
• Including several B vitamins and vitamin K2.
 Toxic Reduction

Process of fermentation has been shown to reduce toxic components in food

Example
• Deadly nerve toxin in fugu or puffer fish
(terodotoxin) was virtually eliminated by traditional methods of food preparation
• Prolonged fermentation
• It yielded a non-toxic, edible food product (Anraku et al.).
 Bacteriocins

• Bacteriocins are anti-microbial isolates

• Produced by salt-tolerant or halophilic species of LAB
• Budu, a fermented anchovy sauce of southern Thailand and Malaysia
• Found to contain bacteriocins active against both gram negative and gram positive
bacteria
• Plaasom , a Thai fish sauce, contain Weissellicin 110, active against gram positive
bacteria.