Aseptically handled Frankfurters were treated with a commercial Lactobacillus alimentarius biopreservative and inoculated with different cell concentrations of four ropy slime-producing Lactobacillus sake strains. The packages were vacuum sealed and kept at 6 degrees C for 28 days, after which the production of ropy slime was evaluated. The inoculation test was controlled by sealing the different control packages containing either aseptically manufactured sausages without any bacterial inoculation, packages containing biopreservative only or packages inoculated only with the four different ropy slime-producing strains. Authenticity of the biopreservative strain after the cold storage period was ascertained by performing EcoRI restriction endonuclease analysis of 30 randomly selected isolates originating from the biopreservative control packages. All patterns were identical to the pattern of the original L. alimentarius biopreservative strain. The biopreservative was found to be ineffective against the four ropy slime-producing L. sake strains. The strongest slime producers inoculated with approximately 1 colony forming units (CFU)/cm2 could compete efficiently with the L. alimentarius inoculated at a level of 10(7) CFU/cm2 on sausage surfaces. This commercial biopreservative failed to occupy the vital niche of the four ropy slime-producing L. sake strains leading to spoilage in almost all packages.