Some microbiological and chemical properties of bologna-type sausage samples from different brands

In this study, the microbiological and chemical quality of bologna-type sausage samples from 4 different brands (A,B,C,D) sold in Erzurum markets was determined. Microbiological analysis showed that while the total aerobic mesophilic bacteria numbers were <5 log CFU/g in 90% of the 30 samples, 80% had lactic bacteria numbers of <2 log CFU/g, 66.67% had yeast-mould numbers of <2 log CFU/g and 90% had Clostridium perfringens numbers of <1 CFU/g. Enterobacteriaceae, coliform group bacteria, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas and Enterococcus numbers were under detectable limits in all samples. Furthermore, the samples did not contain Listeria spp. or Salmonella spp. On the other hand, the average water/protein ratio, oil/protein ratio, pH values and hydroxyprolin content were 4.96 +/- 063, 1.22 +/- 0.28, 6.40 +/- 0.31 and 0.162 +/- 0.059 g/100 g, respectively. The nitrite and salt averages were statistically different among all brands.