## 3 Results and Discussion  
### CNS Microbiota Composition  
The analysis of the Ventricina del Vastese samples for CNS content at different times resulted in the numerical trends shown in Figure 1A, where it is possible to observe that a similar evolution of this bacterial group took place in the products of the four manufacturers examined. Though for manufacturer B lower numbers were most often present, positive correlations were determined among the count data series (Figure 1B). The maximum count data approached those reported for other dry sausage types from Southern Italy [17,18], but the persistence of the highest count values until day 50 can be a consequence of slow drying due to the large diameter of the product. The isolates obtained from each manufacturer of Ventricina del Vastese are listed in Table 1 according to the time of isolation. The number of isolates per manufacturer depended on the number of production lots analyzed, two for manufacturers A, C and D and one for manufacturer B, and on the number of colony morphologies observed, which ranged between two and seven. The Rep-PCR genotypes of the isolates are shown in Figure 2, where they are clustered according to the similarity percentage and with species indication for the isolates identified by the sequencing of the 165 rRNA gene. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Manufacturer** & **A** & **B** & **C** & **D** \\ \hline Day 0 & A1, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8 & B1, B2 & C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8 & D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7 \\ Day 20 & A9, A10, A11, A12, & A9, B6, B8 & C9, C10, C11, C12, C13, C14, & D8, D9, D10, D11, D12, D13, \\ Day 20 & A14, A16, A17 & B4, B6, B8 & C15, C16, C17 & D14, D15, D16 \\ Day 50 & A22, A23, A24, A26, A27, A28 & B10, B11 & C18, C19, C20, C21, & D17, D18, D19, D20, \\  & & & & & \\  & & & & & \\  & & & & & \\  & & & & & \\  & & & & & \\  & & & & & \\ \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: CNS isolates from manufacturers A, B, C and D with time of isolation. Figure 1: CNS evolution in Ventricina del Vastese sausage of four manufacturers A, B, C and D (**A**) and correlation among the evolution trends for the different manufacturers (**B**). Figure 2: Clustered Rep-PCR profiles of CNS isolated from Ventricina del Vastese sausage. Identification based on 16S rRNA gene is shown for isolates representing clusters separated above 90% similarity. For clusters of isolates sharing more than a 90% profile similarity, only one component was sequenced. As it can be observed, the most numerous group was that of the _S. succinus_ isolates, representing 55% of the total, whereas 30% of the isolates were assigned to the species _S. xylosus_, 7.4% to _S. epidermidis_, 3.1% to _S. equorum_ and 3.1% to _S. saprophyticus_. Only one isolate was identified as _S. warneri_. This species association is typical of the Southern-European type of fermented dry sausages with low acidity levels in which 3-methyl-1-butanol, acetoin and diacetyl represent distinctive aroma compounds formed by _S. succinus_ and _S. xylosus_[19]. All the species identified, including those mostly implicated in human infections, i.e., _S. epidermidis_[20] and _S. saprophyticus_[21], were detected at the end of ripening (Table 1, Figure 2). The _S. epidermidis_ isolates were retrieved from manufacturers A and C, whereas _S. saprophyticus_ was also isolated from manufacturer D. It can be mentioned that two isolates from manufacturer C grown on MSA, omitted from Figure 2, were identified as _Bacillus velexensis_, a bacterial species under consideration as a starter for fermented foods [22] whose role in fermented sausages should be examined. In Ventricina del Vastese sausage, the species _S. succinus_ predominated among CNS and was isolated from all manufacturers. The occurrence of _S. succinus_ in dry-fermented sausages from Italy was previously reported, but its frequency of isolation was at most 14.7% in sausages from the Campania region [23]. In a screening of CNS species present in fermented sausages from different European countries, _S.