Some microbiological, chemical and physical characteristics of pastirma marketed in Erzurum

In this study, 48 pastirma samples collected from 6 different retailers were examined. it is concluded that lactic acid bacteria, Micrococcus and Staphylococcus were found to be dominant in the flora. From the microbiologic analyses, Micrococcus/Staphylococcus, lactic acid bacteria, yeast and mould counts were determined as 4.00-7.45 log CFU/g, 3.75-7.89 logCFU/g, <2.00-5.76 logCFU/g respectively. Enterobacteriaceae, coliform bacteria and E. coli were found to be generally under the detectable level (<100 CFU/g). C. perfringens were <1.00 logCFU/g in 44 samples. Salmonella, C. botulinum and L. monocytogenes were not found in any sample. For the chemical results of the pastirma samples, 38.98 - 51.51% of moisture, 2.74-9.36% of salt, 0.93-11.59ppm of residual nitrite and 39.35-522.35 ppm of residual nitrite/nitrate were found. The pH values were 5.68-6.08. The L*, a* and b* values of 1-2 mm slices of pastirma samples were found to be 32.05-50.00, 13.66-36.63 and 6.67-20.54 respectively. With respect to the criteria investigated, no significant differences were determined among the retailers.