BIOPRESERVATIVE POTENTIAL AND STABILITY ASSESSMENT OF PEDIOCOCCUS ACIDILACTICI BA28

Bacteriocins are generally recognized as “natural” compounds able to influence the safety and quality of foods. In the past years, a lot of works have been aimed to the detection, purification and characterisation of bacteriocins, as well as to their use in food preservation strategies. Several LAB bacteriocins offer potential applications in food preservation, and the use of bacteriocins in the food industry can help to reduce the addition of chemical preservatives as well as the intensity of heat treatments, resulting in foods which are more naturally preserved and richer in organoleptic and nutritional properties. This can be an alternative to satisfy the increasing consumers demands for safe, fresh-tasting, ready-to-eat, minimally-processed foods and also to develop “novel” food products. Lactic acid bacteria and their antimicrobial metabolites have potential as natural preservatives to control the growth of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria in foods.