Evaluation of the sensory quality of beef patties inoculated with Carnobacterium maltaromaticum strains with biopreservative potential

Biopreservation is the use of naturally occurring microorganisms and/or their inherent antimicrobial compounds to extend shelf life and to enhance the safety of foods. The aim of the present study was to perform a sensory evaluation of beef patties inoculated with potentially biopreservative strains of Carnobacterium maltaromaticum. Three different strains of C. maltaromaticum (lab. ref.: CM_824, CM_827 and CM_829) isolated from vacuum packaged beef with long shelf life were selected for this study. An untrained panel was requested to make a sensory evaluation of raw and cooked beef patties 8 and 10 days after inoculation with the selected strains at 104 and 106 UFC/g and storage in high-O2 atmosphere. After 8 days of storage, non inoculated samples (blank) were perceived as having the best studied sensory descriptors. The samples inoculated with strain CM_827 had a sensory quality very close to the blank. After 10 days of storage, samples inoculated with the strain CM_827 at 104 UFC/g received the highest scores for appearance and color. This study permitted to evaluate the effect of three C. maltaromaticum strains on the sensory quality of beef patties. Strain CM_827 did practically not change the sensory attributes of beef patties. Samples inoculated with strain CM_824 and CM_829 received the worst scores for several of the tested descriptors. Therefore, further research on the biopreservative capacity of C. maltaromaticum should be conducted with strain CM_827.