Meat products Fermented sausages

Fermented Products. Fermented meat products such as semidried and dried sausages are generally recognized as safe, if critical points during processing are controlled properly. Some of the sausage processors use a small amount of fermented product as the starter for a new batch of product. 

Sparse data are available on the CLA content of meat products, and the reported values ranged from 0.8 to 6.6 mg CLA/g fat. Fermented meat products ranked in the upper middle part of this range, i.e. different types of sausages contained 3.3. 4mg CLA/g fat (Chin, Liu, Strokson, et al., 1992 Fritsche Steinhart, 1998). The CLA content of commercial meat products was reported to be similar to that of the raw material, that is, fermentation and other processing steps did not exert an important effect on its level (Fritsche Steinhart, 1998). 

Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2(X)6 also states that health claims should be used only if the food in question comphes with certain nutrient profiles. Such nutrient profiles have not yet been established for meat products, but a working document of the European Commission (2(X)9) suggests maximum levels of 0.7% sodium and 5% saturated fatty acids. It will be difficult to comply with these criteria. Despite these obstacles in labelling fermented sansages, much research has been done to improve the nutritional value of fermented sausages. 

As a consequence of globalization and the pressure to develop new products, more and more regional varieties of meat products reach other markets. For example. Mediterranean-style mould-ripened fermented sausages were successfully introduced into the German market during the last few decades. This necessitates standardization and scaling-up of manufacturing processes, and the need for autochthonous starter cultures has been stressed (Talon et al., 2008). 

Fermented meat products comprise a heterogeneous group of dry-cured sausages and hams. At present, the application of starter cultures is almost exclusively confined to fermented, dried sausages. 

GdL was introduced in the 1960s for cooked comminuted meat products as an accelerator for the development of cured colour. Later, the application was transferred to fermented sausage production (Acton and Dick, 1977). Normally, up to 0.5% GdL is used for the acidification (Liicke, 1986a). National regulations on permitted GdL levels vary from not being permitted in France to up to 1% allowed in American Genoa salami (Bacus, 1986). 

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