Large-scale multivariate dataset on the characterization of microbiota diversity, microbial growth dynamics, metabolic spoilage volatilome and sensorial profiles of two industrially produced meat products subjected to changes in lactate concentration and packaging atmosphere.

Data in this article provide detailed information on the diversity of bacterial communities present on 576 samples of raw pork or poultry sausages produced industrially in 2017. Bacterial growth dynamics and diversity were monitored throughout the refrigerated storage period to estimate the impact of packaging atmosphere and the use of potassium lactate as chemical preservative. The data include several types of analysis aiming at providing a comprehensive microbial ecology of spoilage during storage and how the process parameters do influence this phenomenon. The analysis includes: the gas content in packaging, pH, chromametric measurements, plate counts (total mesophilic aerobic flora and lactic acid bacteria), sensorial properties of the products, meta-metabolomic quantification of volatile organic compounds and bacterial community metagenetic analysis. Bacterial diversity was monitored using two types of amplicon sequencing (16S rRNA and GyrB encoding genes) at different time points for the different conditions (576 samples for gyrB and 436 samples for 16S rDNA). Sequencing data were generated by using Illumina MiSeq. The sequencing data have been deposited in the bioproject PRJNA522361. Samples accession numbers vary from SAMN10964863 to SAMN10965438 for gyrB amplicon and from SAMN10970131 to SAMN10970566 for 16S.

Modeling the Growth and Interaction Between Brochothrix thermosphacta, Pseudomonas spp., and Leuconostoc gelidum in Minced Pork Samples.

The aim of this study was to obtain the growth parameters of specific spoilage micro-organisms previously isolated in minced pork (MP) samples and to develop a three-spoilage species interaction model under different storage conditions. Naturally contaminated samples were used to validate this approach by considering the effect of the food microbiota. Three groups of bacteria were inoculated on irradiated samples, in mono- and in co-culture experiments (n = 1152): Brochothrix thermosphacta, Leuconostoc gelidum, and Pseudomonas spp. (Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas fragi). Samples were stored in two food packaging [food wrap and modified atmosphere packaging (CO2 30%/O2 70%)] at three isothermal conditions (4, 8, and 12°C). Analysis was carried out by using both 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and classical microbiology in order to estimate bacterial counts during the storage period. Growth parameters were obtained by fitting primary (Baranyi) and secondary (square root) models. The food packaging shows the highest impact on bacterial growth rates, which in turn have the strongest influence on the shelf life of food products. Based on these results, a three-spoilage species interaction model was developed by using the modified Jameson-effect model and the Lotka Volterra (prey-predator) model. The modified Jameson-effect model showed slightly better performances, with 40-86% out of the observed counts falling into the Acceptable Simulation Zone (ASZ). It only concerns 14-48% for the prey-predator approach. These results can be explained by the fact that the dynamics of experimental and validation datasets seems to follow a Jameson behavior. On the other hand, the Lotka Volterra model is based on complex interaction factors, which are included in highly variable intervals. More datasets are probably needed to obtained reliable factors, and so better model fittings, especially for three- or more-spoilage species interaction models. Further studies are also needed to better understand the interaction of spoilage bacteria between them and in the presence of natural microbiota.

Assessment of Spoilage Bacterial Communities in Food Wrap and Modified Atmospheres-Packed Minced Pork Meat Samples by 16S rDNA Metagenetic Analysis.

Although several studies have focused on the dynamics of bacterial food community, little is known about the variability of batch production and microbial changes that occur during storage. The aim of the study was to characterize the microbial spoilage community of minced pork meat samples, among different food production and storage, using both 16S rRNA gene sequencing and classical microbiology. Three batches of samples were obtained from four local Belgian facilities (A-D) and stored until shelf life under food wrap (FW) and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP, CO2 30%/O2 70%), at constant and dynamic temperature. Analysis of 288 samples were performed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing in combination with counts of psychrotrophic and lactic acid bacteria at 22°C. At the first day of storage, different psychrotrophic counts were observed between the four food companies (Kruskal-Wallist test, p-value < 0.05). Results shown that lowest microbial counts were observed at the first day for industries D and A (4.2 ± 0.4 and 5.6 ± 0.1 log CFU/g, respectively), whereas industries B and C showed the highest results (7.5 ± 0.4 and 7.2 ± 0.4 log CFU/g). At the end of the shelf life, psychrotrophic counts for all food companies was over 7.0 log CFU/g. With metagenetics, 48 OTUs were assigned. At the first day, the genus Photobacterium (86.7 and 19.9% for food industries A and C, respectively) and Pseudomonas (38.7 and 25.7% for food companies B and D, respectively) were dominant. During the storage, a total of 12 dominant genera (>5% in relative abundance) were identified in MAP and 7 in FW. Pseudomonas was more present in FW and this genus was potentially replaced by Brochothrix in MAP (two-sided Welch's t-test, p-value < 0.05). Also, a high Bray-Curtis dissimilarity in genus relative abundance was observed between food companies and batches. Although the bacteria consistently dominated the microbiota in our samples are known, results indicated that bacterial diversity needs to be addressed on the level of food companies, batches variation and food storage conditions. Present data illustrate that the combined approach provides complementary results on microbial dynamics in minced pork meat samples, considering batches and packaging variations.

The use of 16S rRNA gene metagenetic monitoring of refrigerated food products for understanding the kinetics of microbial subpopulations at different storage temperatures: the example of white pudding.

In order to control food losses and wastage, monitoring the microbial diversity of food products, during processing and storage is important, as studies have highlighted the metabolic activities of some microorganisms which can lead to spoilage. Knowledge of this diversity can be greatly improved by using a metagenetic approach based on high throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing, which enables a much higher resolution than culture-based methods. Moreover, the Jameson effect, a phenomenon described by Jameson in 1962, is often used to classify bacterial strains within an ecosystem. According to this, we have studied the bacterial microbiota of Belgian white pudding during storage at different temperatures using culture-dependent and independent methods. The product was inoculated with a mix of dominant strains previously isolated from this foodstuff at the end of its shelf life (Carnobacterium maltaromaticum, Lactobacillus fuchuensis, Lactobacillus graminis, Lactobacillus oligofermentans, Lactococcus lactis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Raoultella terrigena and Serratia sp.). Daily during 16days, the absolute abundance of inoculated strain was monitored by combining total count on plate agar and metagenetic analysis. The results were confirmed by qPCR analysis. The growth of each species was modelled for each temperature conditions, representative of good or bad storage practices. These data allowed the bacterial strains subdivision into three classes based on criteria of growth parameters for the studied temperature: the "dominant", the "subdominant" and the "inhibited" bacterial species, according to their maximal concentration (Nmax, log CFU/g), growth rate (µmax, 1/h) and time to reach the stationary phase (TRSP, days). Thereby, depending on the storage conditions, these data have permitted to follow intrinsically the evolution of each strain on the bacterial ecosystem of Belgian white pudding. Interestingly, it has shown that the reliability of the Jameson effect can be discussed. For example, at 4°C when Lactococcus lactis and Serratia sp. stopped growth at day 12, at the same time Carnobacterium maltaromaticum reached its maximal concentration and entered its stationary phase. In opposition to this, it can be noticed that in the same condition, the "sub-dominant" organisms continued their growth independently of the "dominant" species behaviour. In this case, the Jameson effect was not illustrated. This pattern is described for all storage conditions with the same strain classifications. These results highlighted the importance of combining metagenetic analysis and classical methods, with modelling, to offer a new tool for studying the evolution of microorganisms present in perishable food within different environmental conditions.