TAXONOMY OF LACTIC-ACID BACTERIA ASSOCIATED WITH VACUUM-PACKAGED PROCESSED MEAT SPOILAGE BY MULTIVARIATE-ANALYSIS OF CELLULAR FATTY-ACIDS

The taxonomy of lactic acid bacteria from vacuum-packaged processed me ats is problematic, and atypical members of the leuconostocs and the L actobacillus sake / curvatus group are often encountered. In order to resolve this problem the cellular fatty acid (CFA) content of 61 isola tes from vacuum-packaged vienna sausages and 18 reference strains was determined by gas chromatography. The relationship between strains was derived by principal component analysis of data. The CFA profiles wer e highly reproducible. Although no relationships could be derived usin g only one or two differentiating CFAs, plots of the first two princip al components based on only the six most variable CFAs allowed groupin g of strains. The two genera (Leuconostoc and Lactobacillus) could not be clearly separated when analysed together, but differentiation of s pecies within each of the genera was achieved when they were analysed independently. Examination of plots for the reference strains confirme d previously established relationships between these strains. From the plot of the Lactobacillus sake / Lactobacillus curvatus component of the study it was found that most atypical Lactobacillus sake / curvatu s strains were closely related to the typical Lactobacillus sake isola tes and reference strain, while the Lactobacillus curvatus strains for med an independent grouping. A small cluster of atypical strains, howe ver, indicated that this relationship may not be true for all these st rains. Among the leuconostocs only isolates of Leuconostoc mesenteroid es could be clearly differentiated.