Semidry and dry fermented sausages

1.VIGNOLO G; FONTANA, C; FADDA S

Handbook of Meat Processing

WILEY-BLACKWELL

Lugar: IOWA; Año: 2010; p. 379 - 398

Fermentation and drying can be considered as the oldest way to preserve raw materials. Although the historical origin of fermented meat products remains unknown, fragmentary bibliographical research has traced it back more than 2500 years in China. Many of these products have been known in Europe since the 13-14th century after being introduced by Marco Polo. Preservative and palatability effects must have been experienced after mixing comminute fresh meat with salt contaminated with nitrate, spices or herbs, stuffed into animal intestines and then dried. It is certain that early men were aware of the preserving value of salt and drying and therefore over the centuries were able to develop cured products. Proof of sausage production was first documented in ancient Greece, where it may have been propitiated by the existing climate conditions (Liepe 1983). This tradition was inherited by the Romans and from then on fermented sausages spread to Central, Eastern and Northern European countries as well as to America and Australia; fermented sausages being recognized as the heritage of European immigrants in these continents (Demeyer 2004; Fadda and Vignolo 2007). Despite the widespread production of fermented sausages, Europe is the major producer and consumer of these meat products; production and per capita consumption figures being the highest in Germany, Italy, Spain and France (Lücke 1998; FICT 2002; Di Cagno et al. 2008). Production in the New World is much lower: in the United States (US) the annual production of dried fermented sausages is probably less than 5% of the total sausage production (Maddock 2007). The remarkable technological advances and significant improvements in meat hygiene that occurred about fifty years ago have been capitalized for the development of a range of meat fermented products in which differences among countries and regions are the result from meat species availability, environmental conditions and traditions. Nevertheless, the stability of fermented meat products is mainly determined by a combination of acidification brought about by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and lowering of water activity (aw) during curing and drying. In addition, biochemical and physicochemical changes occur as a result of the interactions between microorganisms-meat and fat-processing technology that originates the wide range of available fermented sausages. The main characteristics of semidry and dry fermented sausages and the most relevant products worldwide are analyzed.