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Meat from United States

Pepperoni (American fermented dry sausage)pepperoni

Pepperoni is an American variety of spicy salami made from pork, or pork and beef, seasoned with paprika. In an Irish pilot-plant study a lactic starter culture soured the stuffed batter in about 8 hours at 37 °C in humid air, and the sausages were then dried for 7–9 days.

Fully documentedMeat7.3 days – 9.3 days

Recipe

Pepperoni (American fermented dry sausage), a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Jonathan Cutrer from San Angelo, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceA commercial pepperoni formulation used as the model in an Irish pilot-plant study (Crowley et al. 2026), as shares of the batter.
Pork shank32 %[crowley2026]
Pork trim32 %[crowley2026]
Beef fat31 %[crowley2026]
Dry spice mix3 %Onion powder, spices and dextrose (an industrial blend)[crowley2026]
Salt2.5 % (1.4 % in the reduced-salt batches)[crowley2026]
Sodium nitrite0.015 % (0.005 % in the reduced batches)[crowley2026]
Oleoresins and liquid spice0.02 % paprika oleoresin, 0.13 % rosemary oleoresin, 0.29 % liquid spice[crowley2026]
Lactic acid bacteria starter culture0.03 %[crowley2026]
Starterdefined culture (lactic acid bacteria starter)

Total time across the recorded steps: 7.3 days – 9.3 days

Start
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What changes: Pork and beef fat are minced fine

Step 1 of 6
Mince the meat and fat
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Pepperoni is an American variety of spicy salami made from pork, or pork and beef, seasoned with paprika. In an Irish pilot-plant study a lactic starter culture soured the stuffed batter in about 8 hours at 37 °C in humid air, and the sausages were then dried for 7–9 days. Made in 6 steps over 7.3 days – 9.3 days. The longest step, dry, takes 7–9 days (Crowley C.H 2026) and runs at 15 °C (Crowley C.H 2026). Salt is 2.5 % (Crowley C.H 2026).

Key numbers
Main step7–9 daysReported[crowley2026]Dry
Temperature15 °CReported[crowley2026]Dry
Salt2.5 %Reported[crowley2026]Knead in salt, curing salt, spices and starter culture
AciditypH 5.7 → 5.1Reported[crowley2026]Ferment in a warm, humid chamber

What makes this one different

Pepperoni is a fast, starter-driven ferment of a fine batter. In the pilot-plant study it soured in about 8 hours at 37 °C and was dried in 7–9 days at 15 °C.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Turkey pepperoniTurkey is also used as a substitute, and poultry in pepperoni must be labelled as such in the United States (Wikipedia).

Safety

In a challenge study with E. coli O157:H7 added to the batter, a standard pepperoni process (2.5 % salt, 100 ppm nitrite, pH 4.8) cut it by only about 0.41 log units in fermentation and 0.43 in drying (7 days), short of the 5-log reduction the US Food Safety and Inspection Service recommends. Higher salt and nitrite and a lower pH gave bigger reductions, but every formulation stayed below the 5-log target. These are factory and pilot-plant figures, not a tested home method, and fermenting and drying cannot be relied on to kill this organism in raw meat. The US CDC says the same of curing and drying for Trichinella worms, and undercooked pork is among the meats it names. The sodium nitrite here is pure nitrite, 0.015 % being 150 mg per kg of batter. Weigh it exactly and never by eye, because the CDC warns that nitrite poisoning can be fatal.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli O157:H7, added to the batter in a challenge study, survived fermentation and drying of a standard formulation, with far less than the 5-log reduction FSIS recommends.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Wikipedia dates the first use of the word pepperoni for a sausage to 1916 at the latest, from an Alaskan newspaper, and says a 1919 source mentions it as available in New York City. It says the sausage is an American variety of salami and that sliced pepperoni became one of the most popular pizza toppings in American pizzerias.

  1. [crowley2026] Crowley C.H., Kerry J.P., Duffy G. 2026, Investigation of chemical and processing hurdle impacts upon microbial control and physicochemical quality of manufactured pepperoni products, Foods 15(11):1952paper
  2. [riordan1998] Riordan D.C., Duffy G., Sheridan J., Eblen B.S., Whiting R.C., Blair I.S., McDowell D.A. 1998, Survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 during the manufacture of pepperoni, Journal of Food Protection 61(2):146-151 (abstract)paper
  3. [wp] Wikipedia, Pepperoni (outline: American variety of salami, word history, pizza use, turkey labelling)wiki
  4. [cdc-trichinellosis] US CDC 2024, How to Prevent Trichinellosisgov
  5. [cdc-nitrite2002] US CDC 2002, Methemoglobinemia following unintentional ingestion of sodium nitrite, New York, 2002, MMWR 51(29)gov