FERMENTED MEATS

0 Meat Composition
1 Fresh meat is a nutrient-rich
medium
2 Skeletal bovine muscle contains
3 nearly 20% of high quality protein,
4 About 2% to 3% lipid,
5 and a small amount of
carbohydrate,
6 non-protein nitrogen, and inorganic
material.
7 The balance, about 75%, is water,
8 Water activity (aw), is nearly 0.99.
9 The pH of the fresh tissue, before
rigor, is 6.8 to 7.0,
10 but decreases to about 5.6 to 5.8
following
11 rigor, due to post-mortem
glycolysis by endogenous enzymes
present within muscle cells.

12 Manufacture of Fermented

Sausage
13 Cutting and Mixing
14 The meat portions (lean and
fat) are usually ground separately
in a silent cutter—a rotating,
bowl-shaped device that chops
and mixes the sausage batter—or a
similar grinding device to produce
varying degrees of coarseness

Stuffing

15 Following cooking—or

fermentation,
if there is no cooking step—the
product
can be smoked and/or dried

16 If the product is to be dried,

the chamber
environment is set at about 7°C to
13°C (45°F
to 55°F) and 70% to 72% RH

Good air movement is necessary to

rapidly remove water vapor and
any condensate that collects at
the surface.