990353 Listeria Killer Found In Spanish Sausages

New York - A compound produced by a strain of bacteria found in Spanish dry fermented sausages kills Listeria, foodborne bacteria that can cause serious illness, miscarriages and death, report Belgian researchers.

In a study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, researchers Frederic Leroy and Luc De Vuyst of Vrije University in Brussels, Belgium, write that bacteria called Lactobacillus sake (L. sake), produce a compound called sakacin K which kills the dangerous Listeria bacteria.

The team suggests that adding L. sake to the meat curing process could prevent the harmful Listeria bacteria from growing in meat products.

The researchers note that US manufacturers use Pediococcus acidilactici as the main starter bacterial culture in fermented meat products, while Europeans tend to use starter cultures that contain L. sake.

The researchers found that the temperature and acidic conditions that allow L. sake to produce the compound sakacin K were the same as conditions used to ferment sausages in Europe.

“Considering both the antilisterial capacities of the strain and the good... quality of the final product, once can postulate that L. sake... has high potential for industrial application as a novel bacteriocin-producing sausage starter culture,” the researchers conclude.

A recent Listeria outbreak due to contaminated meat products affected 77 people in 22 states, causing six miscarriages and 14 deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called it the second worst Listeria outbreak in US history.

Listeria contamination occurs most frequently in meat and dairy products.

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