Current Applications and Future Trends of Lactic Acid Bacteria and their Bacteriocins for the Biopreservation of Aquatic Food Products Pilar Calo-Mata & Samuel Arlindo & Karola Boehme & Trinidad de Miguel & Ananias Pascoal & Jorge Barros-Velazquez Received: 8 June 2007 / Accepted: 31 August 2007 / Published online: 3 October 2007 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2007 Abstract This review emphasizes the importance of novel biopreservation strategies and their application to ensure seafood quality and safety especially within the context of increasing demand for minimally processed aquatic food products. The paper addresses the major hazards linked to spoilage and pathogenic bacteria found in fresh and processed aquatic foods, mainly ready-to-eat seafood subjected to short-term storage, and the biological strategies that can be used to minimize their growth. This is followed by an overview of current knowledge about the inhibiting bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria isolated from aquatic food products or that is being evaluated for ensuring safety on seafood and seafood products as well as the characteristics of their bacteriocins. The different strategies for the biopreservation of aquatic food products, such as protective cultures or spray drying, and their current and future applications for the preservation of seafood products are also explored. Finally, novel antimicrobial active and intelligent packaging strategies based on anti- microbials film allowing controlled release of bacteriocins to refrigerated aquatic food products are also discussed. Keywords Lactic acid bacteria . Protective cultures . Bacteriocins . Biopreservation . Listeria Introduction Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) comprise a group of Gram- positive bacteria, non-sporulating, cocci or rods, and cata- lase-lacking organisms. LAB produce lactic acid as the major end product during the fermentation of carbohydrates. They only grow in complex media where fermentable carbohydrates and higher alcohols are used as an energy source, mainly to form lactic acid. Homofermentative LAB degrade hexoses to lactate, whereas heterofermentative LAB degrade hexoses to lactate and additional products such as acetate, ethanol, CO 2 , formate, or succinate. LAB are widespread in most ecosystems and are found in soil, water, plants, and animals. They are responsible for many food fermentation processes, but they are also commonly found in non-fermented foods such as dairy products, meat products, seafood, fruits, vegetables, cereals, sewage, and the genital, intestinal, and respiratory tracts of humans and animals. LAB are widely used as starter cultures in the food industry for the production of fermented foods, including dairy (yogurt, cheese), meat (sausages), fish, cereals (bread and beverages such as beer), fruit (malolactic fermentation processes in wine production), and vegetables (sauerkraut, kimchi, si- lage). Most LAB are considered GRAS (generally recog- nized as safe) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA; Silva et al. 2002). LAB are used to ensure safety, preserve food quality, develop characteristic new flavors, and to improve the nutritional qualities of food. LAB exert strong antagonistic activity against many related and unrelated microorgan- isms, including food spoilage organisms and pathogenic bacteria such as Listeria, Clostridium, Staphylococcus, and Bacillus spp. The antagonistic effect of LAB is mainly due to a lowering of the pH of the food, to competition for Food Bioprocess Technol (2008) 1:43–63 DOI 10.1007/s11947-007-0021-2 P. Calo-Mata : S. Arlindo : K. Boehme : T. de Miguel : A. Pascoal : J. Barros-Velazquez (*) Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Food Science, Food Technology Division, School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Lugo, 27002 Lugo, Spain e-mail: jbarros@lugo.usc.es