The microbiological art of making a better sausage

(American Society for Microbiology) Fermented sausages can vary in taste quality depending on whether the fermentations begin 'spontaneously,' or using a commercial starter culture. A team of Italian investigators found that commercial starter culture produced sausages with higher acidity, and inferior taste, as compared with spontaneous fermentation. The research is published Dec. 1 in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.