Accelerated ripening of dry fermented sausages

Research on accelerated ripening of dry fermented sausages started in the e arly 1990s. Fermented sausages manufacture is a very important part of meat industry in many countries and the acceleration of ripening would result i n a reduction of the storage time and would increase the profit margin and the competitiveness of the end product. The different strategies that have been assayed with this purpose include ripening at elevated temperature, us e of genetically modified starter bacteria, addition of enzymes and additio n of slurry systems. Over the last decade, numerous studies have been carri ed out, especially on the addition of enzymes. The aim of this paper is to review and update the knowledge on this topic. The more recent approaches i n this field, such as the use of microbial extracts, are also presented. (C ) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.