Mold-Ripened Sausages 365taining higher levels of unsaturated fatty acid
is not suitable because of its softness and
because of its tendency to oxidate rapidly
(i.e., become rancid). When products are
manufactured by means of technology that
produces extended shelf life (dry sausage),
this kind of effort (use of meat and fat with
high PUFA ratio) to make health food cannot
be justifi ed anyway, because of the rapid
inactivation of the “ good fat. ”
Mostly pork and/or beef, lamb, poultry,
goat, camel, horse, and game are used in
these sausages, depending on historical,
ethnic, and religious traditions (Santchurn
and Collignan 2007 ; Vural and Ö zvural
2007 ). Pork meat and fat is not used in sau-
sages that meet Islamic and Kosher rules. It
is generally accepted that the drying speed of
pork is lower than that of beef or lamb, partly
because of its higher marbling properties,
which make the drying of dry sausage made
from pork less risky (case hardening) than
that of sausage made entirely from beef. The
microbial quality of poultry and game has to
be controlled very thoroughly (mainly for
salmonellae, listeriae, EHEC, and parasites),
in order to keep the safety risk as low as pos-
sible. Low - temperature freezing ( − 18 ° C and
below) for several days to several weeks,
depending on the temperature, can be a useful
weapon against parasites.Ingredients Other Than Meat and
Fat: Additives
Spices and curing salts are the most impor-
tant substances to be added to comminuted
meat and fat when manufacturing dry
sausage. The combination of spices, salt, and
metabolites from tissue and bacterial enzyme
activities taking place during ripening results
in a high variety of aroma - rich raw dry sau-
sages, which no other technology is capable
of reaching. For better safety, better sensoric
value (color and taste), and for its antioxida-
tive effect, curing salt, NaNO 2 or KNO 3 ,
is usually added to the sausage (NaNO 2 in
the form of nitrite salt: 99.5% NaCl, 0.5%microbial load in raw materials, it requires
raw materials of high hygienic quality before
adding the starter culture; otherwise, health
and/or spoilage risk occurs. It is generally
accepted that the total viable count of raw
materials should not reach 10^6 /g, and this
should not involve pathogenic microorgan-
isms at or above the given limit, which varies
from country to country. This requirement is
sometimes hard to meet, a fact that causes
problems mainly with those pathogenic
microbes that are rather resistant to lowered
a w - and pH - value ( Listeria , enterohemor-
rhagic E. coli ).
High technological, hygienic, and sensory
quality of raw materials, ingredients, and
additives, as well as proper and thoroughly
controlled processes, are the preconditions
for high - quality dry sausage.
Main Technological Steps
During Mold - Ripened
Sausage Production
The selected ingredients (meat, fat) have to
be chilled (meat) and frozen (fat) to 1 ° to 2 ° C
and − 5 ° to − 7 ° C, respectively. During com-
minution and blending spices, carbohydrates
and starter culture (if used) is added with the
other ingredients and with curing salt.
Stuffi ng is made under vacuum, sausages are
washed, and the surface is dried afterward, so
that undesired microorganisms do not grow.
After the core temperature reaches ambient
temperature, incubation (if applicable) and
smoking (if applicable) is applied. During
ripening, the surface is inoculated with mold
starter (if applicable), and temperature and
relative humidity parameters are adjusted to
promote the molds ’ growth. Major critical
points in dry sausage technology differ as to
whether traditional or starter culture technol-
ogy is applied (Incze 2004a ).
In a high - quality product, properly pig-
mented meat from possibly heavy - weight
pigs is used with hard fat (lower unsaturated:
saturated fatty acid ratio, PUFA : TFA ≤ 12% –
16%). Fat from animals fed with feed con-