New culture keeps listeria at bay

Listeria is a constant concern in the meat and prepared foods industry. At FIE 2007, global ingredients supplier Chr. Hansen will hand over a new weapon in the battle against the feared food bug to producers of Ready-to-Eat (RTE) food products. The new culture – B-LC-48 – is a member of the SafeProTM family which already counts several listeria-fighting cultures.

“Bio-protection is receiving more and more attention from food producers and rightly so. A brand in which you have invested time, money and effort is a brand worth protecting. This is further underlined by the fact that global companies with a global food distribution chain have a higher risk profile in terms of food bugs such as listeria,” explains Eva Stenby, Marketing Manager, Chr. Hansen.

At the same time the prevailing trends in consumer behavior are pointing towards ‘additive free’ and ‘salt or additive reductions’ – or, for meat products, that these are prepared without synthetic preservatives. Consequently, food producers are constantly looking for new ways to improve food safety while living up to legislation as well as consumer demands, which means that the needs for alternative and improved tools and new processing methods are on the rise.

Meeting industry demands

In close cooperation with the industry, Chr. Hansen has developed a natural solution that fights the food bug with lactic acid bacteria. The culture is called B-LC-48.

“It is undeniable that listeria is an increasingly critical issue and a problem to which many food producers have been seeking new solutions. Therefore we are happy to present B-LC-48 at FIE,” says Eva Stenby.

The culture is developed to meet the specific demands of the RTE food industry. It is easy to use and, more importantly, does not change the taste or smell of the food products.

Numerous application studies have been conducted with B-LC-48 on various RTE food products and the culture has been positively perceived in sensory evaluations in a wide range of sliced, cooked ham products, emulsion sausages and fresh cheese.
This makes the new culture a very attractive alternative to other available options.

Part of a much bigger family

B-LC-48 is part of Chr. Hansen’s SafeProTM range of bio-protective cultures for meat.
SafePro has achieved good results in products such as dried fermented sausages, chipolata, hot dog sausages, cooked ham and teewurst.


The SafePro range:

B-2: Inhibits natural spoilage flora and the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes in fresh sausages and RTE-meat products packed in modified atmosphere or vacuum.


B-FM: Has the same properties as B-2, but adds extra flavor and color to fresh sausages


B-LC-20: Reduces Listeria monocytogenes in fermented sausages without changing the sausage recipe or the processing procedure.


F-LC: Reduces Listeria monocytogenes in all types of fermented sausages, while also providing a consistent acidification and a desirable, stable color. Depending on fermentation temperature acidification is traditional, fast or extra fast.

B-LC-35 : Has the same anti-listerial properties as F-LC, but provides the fermented sausage with a milder acidification.