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The use of starter cultures in the industrial manufacture of meat products has become common practice. We have investigated the use of Lactobacillus sakei F, isolated from a commercial starter culture, and Lactobacillus sakei 23K, from a French sausage, alone or together with Staphyloccus xylosus, as starter cultures, during the industrial manufacture of Tunisian dry‐fermented sausages. Samples from the same raw matter were collected after up to 45 days of maturation and were subjected to microbiological, physicochemical, nutritional, and sensory analyses. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the use of L. sakei F or L. sakei 23K as starter strains produced a fermented sausage with similar or even better quality than sausages fermented with L. sakei 23K + S. xylosus or the commercial starter. Our study found that L. sakei 23K could have a great potential for use as a starter culture during the commercial production of dry‐fermented sausage. NOVELTY IMPACT STATEMENT: Lactobacillus sakei F and 23K strains can be used alone or in association with Staphylococcus xylosus as starter cultures for the manufacture of Tunisian dry‐fermented sausages. Sausages produced with L. sakei F and 23K strains display better nutritional and sensory profiles, compared with the non‐inoculated controls, as well as sausages inoculated with the commercial starter culture.

A total of 119 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated, by culture-dependant method, from rhizosphere samples of olive trees and desert truffles and evaluated for different biotechnological properties. Using the variability of the intergenic spacer 16S-23S and 16S rRNA gene sequences, the isolates were identified as the generaLactococcus, Pediococcus, Lactobacillus, Weissella,andEnterococcus. All the strains showed proteolytic activity with variable rates 42% were EPS producers, while only 10% showed the ability to grow in 9% NaCl. In addition, a low rate of antibiotic resistance was detected among rhizospheric enterococci. Furthermore, a strong antibacterial activity against plant and/or pathogenic bacteria ofStenotrophomonas maltophilia, Pantoea agglomerans, Pseudomonas savastanoi, the food-borneStaphylococcus aureus,andListeria monocytogeneswas recorded. Antifungal activity evaluation showed thatBotrytis cinereawas the most inhibited fungus followed byPenicillium expansum, Verticillium dahliae,andAspergillus niger. Most of the active strains belonged to the generaEnterococcusandWeissella. This study led to suggest that environmental-derived LAB strains could be selected for technological application to control pathogenic bacteria and to protect food safety from postharvest deleterious microbiota.