Fermented meat is an important preservation process which has evolved for
meat but is rarely used alone.
A particularly common form of
fermented meat product is the
sausage
A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...
, with notable examples including
chorizo
Chorizo (, from Spanish ; similar to but distinct from Portuguese ) is a type of pork cured meat originating from the Iberian Peninsula.
In Europe, chorizo is a fermented, cured, smoked meat, which may be sliced and eaten without cooking, o ...
,
salami
Salami ( ) is a cured sausage consisting of fermented and air-dried meat, typically pork. Historically, salami was popular among Southern, Eastern, and Central European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for up to 45 da ...
,
sucuk
Sujuk or sucuk is a dry, spicy and fermented sausage which is consumed in several Balkan, Middle Eastern and Central Asian cuisines. Sujuk mainly consists of ground meat and animal fat usually obtained from beef or lamb, but beef is mainly used ...
,
pepperoni,
nem chua,
som moo, and
saucisson.
The process of fermentation may be used to render edible meat that would otherwise be poisonous to humans, as in the case of the Icelandic dish
hákarl, the fermented meat of the Greenland shark.
In 2015, the
International Agency for Research on Cancer of the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...
classified
processed meat, that is, meat that has undergone
salting,
curing
A cure is a completely effective treatment for a disease.
Cure, or similar, may also refer to:
Places
* Cure (river), a river in France
* Cures, Sabinum, an ancient Italian town
* Cures, Sarthe, a commune in western France
People
* Curate or ...
, fermenting, or
smoking
Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...
, as "
carcinogenic to humans".
See also
*
Fermentation in food processing
In food processing, fermentation is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohol or organic acids using microorganisms— yeasts or bacteria—under anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions. Fermentation usually implies that the action of microorganis ...
References
{{Meat-stub
Animal-based fermented foods
Meat