Beneficial effects of sour pork fermented with a Lactobacillus plantarum strain on lowering blood lipids in mice

As a type of main meat food, pork is widely accepted, and has been used over a long time by residents in China. However, its high cholesterol is the primary unfavourable factor that influences human health. The reduction of cholesterol content in pork through fermentation using probiotics may be a promising candidate approach. In the present work, the probiotic strains were obtained from traditional naturally fermented foods, and identified via monoclonal culture, morphological observation, biochemical detection, and 16S rRNA sequencing. The dominant strain was used to produce sour pork, which was applied to regulate lipid metabolism in mice. Results showed that a total of 31 strains were identified from the traditional naturally fermented foods, of which four strains had similar characteristics to Lactobacillus plantarum, and displayed good capacity for cholesterol degradation with metabolism efficiencies of 75.31% (DC2 strain), 68.01% (PC1 strain), 60.49% (SC1 strain), and 58.02% (DC1 strain). The dominant strain DC2 had 99.93% homology with L. plantarum. Following fermentation with DC2 strain (4 × 106 CFU/g inoculum size, 20-day incubation), the cholesterol in sour pork was significantly reduced with 77.2% efficiency. The serum lipids in mice that were fed with sour pork were significantly lower than those in mice that were fed with normal pork. In summary, a L. plantarum strain with good capacity for cholesterol degradation was obtained (CCTCC NO: M 2019121). The strain can be used to produce fermented sour pork. Dietary sour pork may be beneficial for lowering blood lipid levels.