Gastrointestinal outbreaks associated with fermented meats

Fermented meats, including salami, various types of fermented sauages and snack sticks have seen a revival in their popularity in recent years. The production of such foodstuffs generally lies in traditional techniques, however, both the quality and in particular the safety of such products intrinsically rests with the microbiology of the fermentation processes. Simultaneously, there has been increased concern over the safety of such products following the increased incidence of outbreaks of Salmonella and verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli food-poisoning related to these products. This update reviews the prevalence of fermented meat associated food-poisoning outbreaks (n=13) and the proposed microbiological specifications used to assess the safety of such foodstuffs.