The population change of yeasts in commercial salami

The survival of yeast during a pilot scale production of commercial salami was investigated A fetal of 108 distinctive yeast strains were isolated and identified during the processing of the salami Initially, the number of ye asts remained below 10(3) cfu g(-1) but their numbers increased after the 1 2(th) day of maturation, reaching a maximum of 2.0 x 10(5) cfu g(-1) at day 20. During maturation, the pH declined from 5.72 to 4.36, water content fr om 58% to 43% while the salt content increased by 7%. The number of lactic acid bacteria remained above 10(5) cfu g(-1) throughout processing and matu ration. Of the 108 yeast strains isolated, 22 strains were identified as me mbers of the species Debaryomyces hansenii, being present in ail samples ta ken. in descending numbers, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, Yarrowia lipolytica a nd Cryptococcus albidus, were also frequently isolated during processing an d maturation (C) 2000 Academic Press.