Role of microbial collections in the selection of starter cultures

The aim of this study was to characterize, through a polyphasic approach, a pool of 27 strains of lactic acid bacteria (genus Lactobacillus), isolated from salami and deposited in the Unimore (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) Microbial Culture Collection (UMCC). Moreover, 15 selected strains have been used for a preliminary technological screening in order to implement starter cultures suitable for the production of sausages. The genetic improvement programmes and the selection of starter cultures suitable for specific fermentation processes are some of the main activities of UMCC. As well as the preservation of characterized microbial cultures, UMCC manages the cataloging and sharing of the information on the strains collected by transferring and updating the biological data in an online public database (http://biolomics.umcc.unimore.it).