Many traditional Thai fermented meat products were naturally fermented, relying on
the natural contamination by house flora resulting in products with inconsistent qualities and
unsafe products. The lactic acid bacterial species in Thai fermented sausage (E-sarn sausage)
was identified by using molecular techniques and investigated their potential to reduce the
nitrite content. The isolated strains were identified by sequencing 16S ribosomal DNA as
Enterococcus durans, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus brevis, and Pediococcus
pentosaceus. The nitrite degradation capacity in MRS broth, E. durans, L. plantarum, L. brevis,
and P. pentosaceus could degrade 89.35%, 79.11%, 86.22% and 72.87% of the initial nitrite
concentration, respectively. The nitrite concentration decreased throughout fermentation time
and exhibited the lowest final value as 12.78-32.28 μg/ml at the third day. These results
suggested that lactic acid bacteria isolates from E-sarn sausage had showed a potential as starter
culture to reduce the residual nitrite in Thai fermented meat products.