This study provides the first metagenomic characterisation of Kastamonu pastrami, a traditional Turkish dry-cured meat, and compares its microbial diversity with industrially produced alternatives. The findings are evaluated regarding product quality, fermentation characteristics, and food safety. We analyzed 15 sırt pastrami samples (M. longissimus thoracis) from traditional producers A?D (n=12) and industrial producer E (n=3). The 16S rRNA V3?V4 region was sequenced on Illumina MiSeq and processed with standard quality-filtering/denoising and taxonomyassignment workflow. Diversity metrics included alpha diversity (Shannon) and beta structure (PCoA, hierarchical clustering); group differences were evaluated with multiple-comparison procedures. Traditional products (A?D) showed higher alpha diversity overall than the industrial group (E) (p<0.05). Shannon values were highest in A and C with medians around ~2.10 and ~2.06 respectively; B was intermediate (~1.88?1.90); D and E were lowest (~1,71 and ~1.65 respectively). Community composition reflected these patterns; traditional samples contained producerspecific lactic acid bacteria (LAB) consortia?Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Weissella, and Leuconostoc?while A and C also harbored hygiene/spoilage-associated genera (e.e., Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, Psychrobacter, Bacteroides, and Photobacterium). The industrial group (E) exhibited low diversity with Lactobacillus dominance (~80% relative abundance) and minimal non-LAB representation, consistent with controlled fermentation and sanitation. Findings indicate a diversity?safety trade off: traditional processing preserves microbial richness and typicity but may elevate contamination risk without robust GMP/HACCP, whereas industrial processing enhances microbiological safety at the expense of diversity. These results provide a practical basis for targeted hygiene interventions that improve safety while preserving the distinctive character of traditional pastrami.
Akkemik et al. (2026) studied this question.