Natamycin - prevention of the mould growth in raw sausages

Mould growth is undesirable during the ripening and storage of smoked raw s ausages. The goal of the present work was to investigate the antimycotic ef fect of natamycin in comparison with potassium sorbat in raw sausage. Two d ifferent natamycin products (Premi(R)Nat and Delvocid(R)) of the DSM compan y were tested. The inoculation amount, inoculation moment, smoking, skin ty pe, drying grade and skin treatment were varied. Furthermore it was tested, whether natamycin (Premi(R)Nat) or potassium sorbat have an influence on p H, a(w)-value, colour, firmness or starter culture development of the sausa ge. The investigations have shown, that both the time of inoculation as wel l as the inoculation height have a large influence on the growth of moulds. The time of inoculation, on the other hand, has no influence on the effect of potassium sorbat or natamycin. Premi(R)Nat showed a more lasting preven tion of the mould growth than potassium sorbat in all attempts. The microbi ological investigation in the outer area of the raw sausages yielded, that natamycin, in contrast to sorbat, did not inhibit the used starter cultures .