379Chapter 22
Semidry and Dry Fermented Sausages
Graciela Vignolo , Cecilia Fontana , and Silvina Fadda
Introduction
Fermentation and drying can be considered
to be the oldest way to preserve raw materi-
als. Although the historical origin of fer-
mented 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 thirteenth through the four-
teenth centuries, after being introduced by
Marco Polo. Preservative and palatability
effects must have been experienced after
mixing comminuted fresh meat with salt con-
taminated with nitrate, spices, or herbs; stuff-
ing it into animal intestines; and then drying
it. Early humans were certainly aware of the
preservative value of salt and drying, and
therefore, over the centuries, humans were
able to develop cured products. Proof of
sausage production was fi rst documented in
ancient Greece, where it may have been
encouraged by the existing climate condi-
tions (Liepe 1983 ). The Romans inherited
this tradition, and from then on, fermented
sausages spread to central, eastern, and
northern European countries, as well as to
America and Australia where fermented sau-
sages were recognized as the heritage of
European immigrants (Demeyer 2004 ; Fadda
and Vignolo 2007 ). Despite the widespread
production of fermented sausages, Europe is
still the major producer and consumer of
these meat products, production and per
capita consumption fi gures being highest in
Germany, Italy, Spain, and France (L ü cke
1998 ; FICT 2002 ; Di Cagno et al. 2008 ).
Production in the New World is much lower:
in the United States, the annual production of
dried fermented sausages is probably less
than 5% of the total sausage production
(Maddock 2007 ). The remarkable techno-
logical advances and signifi cant improve-
ments in meat hygiene that occurred about 50
years ago have been capitalized on for the
development of a range of fermented meat
products in which differences among coun-
tries and regions are the result of meat species
availability, environmental conditions, and
traditions. Nevertheless, the stability of fer-
mented meat products is mainly determined
by a combination of acidifi cation brought
about by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and low-
ering of water activity (a w ) during curing and
drying. In addition, biochemical and physi-
cochemical changes occur as a result of the
interactions among microorganisms, meat,
fat, and processing technology, which is what
produces the wide range of available fer-
mented sausages. The main characteristics of
semidry and dry fermented sausages and the
most relevant products worldwide are ana-
lyzed here.Fermented Sausage Classifi cation
Since the manufacture of fermented sausages
has been adapted mainly to raw material
availability and environmental conditions of
the production area, fermented sausage clas-
sifi cation was carried out considering various
criteria, such as moisture content, mois-