Effect of inoculation with lactic acid bacteria on extending the shelf-life of vacuum-packed cold smoked salmon

Extending the shelf-life of vacuum-packed cold smoked salmon was tested with lactic acid bacteria. Carnobacterium spp. (10 and 39) isolated from seafood, one type strain C. piscicola NCDO 2762 and a Lactobacillus plantarum strain commonly used in meat industry, were sprayed on both sides of commercial smoked salmon slices (10(8) CFU g(-1)) which were vacuum packaged and stored at 4 degrees C for up to 28 days. A control sprayed with sterile physiological saline was used. In one trial, after storage with strains 10 and 39, the smell of inoculated slices became significantly less acid, sour, amine and rancid, and more specifically salmon than the control, with maximum effect after 3 weeks. These differences were not so pronounced in laboratory-processed slices for these two strains nor for C. piscicola and L. plantarum, probably because the initial counts were much lower. The effect on H2S-producing bacteria was variable. The yeast and mould count was always reduced on the inoculated samples. Odour differences did not correlate with chemical data, as similar concentrations of metabolites were observed in both standard and assay tests.