Charqui meat is a tropical intermediate meat product formulated using
hurdle technology, a concept described by Leistner (1,2). Salt, sodium
nitrite, dehydration, and packaging are hurdles sequentially applied
to inhibit deteriorating microorganisms with the possibility of select
ing desirable microbiota. This would characterize charqui and its deri
vatives as fermented meat products. This paper reviews biochemical, ph
ysico-chemical, and ultrastructural changes that occur during processi
ng of charquis.