Lactic acid bacteria and their antimicrobial substances: modern approaches for the biopreservation of meat and meat products

Abstract Consumers today increasingly demand safe, additive-free meat that is high in sensory and nutritional quality. This shift highlights the need for natural preservation methods to enhance safety and shelf life. Research has shown that lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and their antimicrobials are promising bio-preservatives, inhibiting spoilage, preventing pathogens, and improving meat quality. This review thoroughly examines comprehensive information on the use of LAB-derived antimicrobial agents, with a particular focus on LAB-derived postbiotic components (bacteriocins) as innovative bio-preservatives in meat, beef, poultry, and their products. This article discusses the use of LAB strains as starter cultures in fermented meat products and as protective cultures in non-fermented systems. It emphasizes the benefits of combining multi-strain probiotic LAB blends with their cell-free supernatants, which contain postbiotics in different forms. This review also details the properties, sources, and classification of LAB-derived bacteriocins, along with the antimicrobial effectiveness of both purified and semi-purified bacteriocins in their direct and dynamic forms. Additionally, it explores the synergistic effects of LAB-derived substances when combined with other preservation methods within hurdle technology approaches. Moreover, it revisits the physicochemical and sensory effects of LAB-based antimicrobials on meat products, which are often overlooked in food safety and quality studies. The challenges of the large-scale application of LAB and their antimicrobial substances in the meat industry are also discussed, including regulatory issues, technological feasibility, and sensory changes that impact biopreservation. Special attention is given to safety concerns, including antibiotic resistance genes, virulence factors, and toxin production, emphasizing the importance of strain-specific risk assessments prior to industrial use. Ultimately, this review proposes alternative solutions to overcome these barriers, supporting LAB-based bio-preservation as a sustainable way to meet increasing demand for safe, high-quality meat. Further research is recommended to optimize the application of LAB and their antimicrobials across various meat products under industrial processing conditions.