Effect of commercial starter cultures on the quality characteristics of fermented fish-chili paste

The effects of commercial starter cultures on the quality characteristics of fermented fish-chili paste were investigated. Five batches of fish-chili paste were prepared with different starter cultures, namely, SBM-52 (Staphylococcus xylosus, Staphylococcus carnosus, Pediococcus pentosaceus and Pediococcus lactis), PRO-MIX5 (Staphylococcus xylosus, Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus sakei), WBX-43 (Staphylococcus xylosus and Staphylococcus carnosus), V3 (Lactobacillus plantarum), and CO (spontaneous fermentation) as the control. The results showed that all the starter cultures accelerated the growth of lactic acid bacteria and obviously reduced the Enterobacteriaceae count compared with the CO batch. SBM-52, PRO-MIX5 and V3 quickly reduced the pH, and there was no obvious difference in the protease activities among these five batches (P > 0.05). The SBM-52 batch displayed a significantly higher level of total free amino acids than the control (P < 0.05). The accumulation of organic acids was mainly due to lactic acid in all the samples. Volatile analysis indicated that more ester compounds were detected in WBX-43 compared with the other samples. E-nose analysis showed an obvious difference in the overall odor among the different samples. In conclusion, the starter cultures of WBX-43 and SBM-52 could be used for the production of high-quality fish-chili paste with better flavor.