The combined effects of environmental conditions on lipolysis of pork fat by lipases of the meat starter culture organisms Staphylococcus xylosus and Debaryomyces hansenii

The effects of environmental conditions on lipolysis by cell-free extracts from the meat starter culture organisms Staphylococcus xylosus and Debaryomyces hansenii were studied using pork fat emulsions as model systems. For the individual effects of temperature and pH it was found that the optimal conditions for the lipolysis by S. xylosus lipase were 37 °C and pH 7.0, and 37 °C and pH 6.5 for the lipolysis by D. hansenii lipase. For the combined effects of conditions relevant to meat fermentation i.e. 10–30 °C, pH 4.7–6.0, 2.5–7.5% (wv) NaCl and incubation times of 2–6 days, the empirical models indicated that temperature, pH and incubation time had important effects on total lipolysis whereas NaCl concentration had little effect. For both cultures lipolysis was strongly inhibited at conditions of meat fermentation compared to optimal conditions. For any set of the conditions which were examined the total lipolysis caused by D. hansenii lipase was lower than that caused by S. xylosus lipase.