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Inactivation of E. coli in UCFMUCFM was not completely reliable. The process of adding part of the last batch to the next isknown as ‘backslopping’, and is now illegal in Australia because it has the potential tomagnify pathogen loads to very dangerous levels if a series of fermentations areunsuccessful.As the processing of UCFM was “scaled up” for commercial reasons in the early part of the20 th century, the microbiology of meat fermentation was studied and the bacteria associatedwith successful fermentations were isolated and identified. Pure cultures of these strainswere then deliberately added either singly or in combinations to improve the reliability andreproducibility of the UCFM process. The bacteria most widely used in food fermentationbelong to the lactic acid bacteria group which include both cocci and bacilli and belong to thegenera Streptococcus, Lactococcus, Leuconostoc, Pediococcus, Bifidobacterium andLactobacillus (Wigley, 2000).Starter cultures are added at high levels (e.g. 10 6 – 10 7 CFU/g of mix) so that they rapidlydominate the microbiota of the mix and begin to reduce the pH, thereby minimising thepotential for growth of pathogenic bacteria that may be present. In a review of lactic acidbacterial fermentation and the principal antimicrobial factors produced by lactic acid bacteriaAdams and Nicolaides (1997) concluded that the principal antimicrobial factor is the ability ofall lactic acid bacteria to produce organic acids and decrease the pH of foods in which theygrow.In Australia, use of starter cultures is now required by regulation. Larger manufacturers maybe able to develop and maintain their own starter cultures, but most manufacturers purchasethem from commercial suppliers. Starter cultures usually comprise Lactobacillus sakei,Lactobacillus curvatus, Lactobacillus plantarum, Pediococcus acidilactici or Pediococcuspentosaceus either singly or in combination. Some other species are also used, e.g.Staphylococcus carnosus, Staphylococcus xylosus, Kocuria varians (form. Micrococcusvarians) though less commonly. In Mediterranean style UCFM moulds may be applied to theoutside of the casing after stuffing.3.2.2. The ProcessThe fundamental steps involved in the production of UCFM are:• chopping and mixing of ingredients, and filling into casing;• fermentation, and• drying (or maturation)In the USA a heating step is often applied after fermentation to eliminate pathogens. Thisprocess is not strictly “non-thermal”, and the heated product is often classified as low-cooked(Calicioglu et al., 1997; Montel, 2000). Just as the mix of ingredients varies between UCFMstyles, so too does the size of the meat and fat particles, the time and temperature offermentation and the time and temperature of drying. Some variations are illustrated in Table2, and presented diagrammatically in Figure 2. Variation in the composition of AustralianUCFM batters and fermentation and maturation conditions is shown in Table 3.Each of these variables is regarded as contributing to the overall character of the product,and manufacturers are often loath to change recipes and methods out of concern that it willchange the characteristics of a successful product (Vanderlinde, 1999). Similarly, postfermentationheating of many traditional fermented meat products can alter the productquality (colour, texture, flavour) and is unacceptable to many processors.3.2.3 Critical Control PointsProduction of safe UCFM relies largely on prevention of the growth of pathogens during thefermentation step and maximising death of surviving pathogens during maturation andstorage. The safety of the process requires best quality raw materials. If high microbial loadsare present on the raw materials they can retard the desirable activity of the starter cultures.Moreover, if high pathogen loads are present, the overall UCFM process is unlikely toeliminate them reliably, as the following review of the literature will demonstrate. A furtherPage 14 of 59