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Fermentation Atlas

Meat from Italy

Salame (Italian salami family)salame

Minced pork and fat are seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and often wine, stuffed into natural pork casings, and dried warm for a few days while lactic bacteria and staphylococci get to work. The salami then matures for weeks in cool, humid, ventilated rooms until it is firm, ruby red and mild, usually with only a slight drop in pH. Made in 6 steps over 29 days – 31 days. The longest step, mature in cool, ventilated rooms, takes at least 25 days (Salame Felino IGP 2013) and runs at 12–19 °C (Salame Felino IGP 2013). Salt is 1.5–3.5 % (Salame Felino IGP 2013). Latilactobacillus sakei and Latilactobacillus curvatus, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Pediococcus pentosaceus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 25 daysSet[felino][piacentino]Mature in cool, ventilated rooms
Temperature12–19 °CSet[felino][piacentino]Mature in cool, ventilated rooms
Salt1.5–3.5 %Set[felino][piacentino]Season and mix
AciditypH 5.2–6.5Set[piacentino][felino]Mature in cool, ventilated rooms
Fully documentedMeat29 days – 31 daysMore meatMore from Italy

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts are per 100 kg of fresh meat in the Salame Piacentino DOP specification (2012 amendment). Other salami set their own rules; Salame Felino IGP, for example, uses 2–2.8 % salt and 0.03–0.06 % pepper.
100 kgFresh pork lean and fat, minced through a plate with holes over 10 mm[piacentino]
1.5–3.5 kgSalt (sodium chloride)[piacentino]
30–50 gBlack or white pepper, whole or cracked[piacentino]
Up to 500 gGarlic and wine infusion (5–20 g garlic, 0.1–0.5 L wine)[piacentino]
Up to 1.5 kgSugars[piacentino]
Up to 15 gPotassium nitrate (E252) · EU additive limits since 9 October 2025 cap added nitrate at 90 mg/kg as nitrate ion[piacentino][eu2023-2108]
Up to 10 gSodium nitrite · EU limit since 9 October 2025 is 80 mg/kg added, as nitrite ion[piacentino][eu2023-2108]
Up to 200 gSodium ascorbate (E301)[piacentino]
Up to 30 gNutmeg[piacentino]
Starter cultures (optional)[piacentino]
Starterspontaneous or defined culture

Total time across the recorded steps: 29 days – 31 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
at least -1 °C

What changes: Starting material: chilled pork lean and firm fat, trimmed clean

Step 1 of 6
Trim and chill the pork
Time
Not documented
Temperature
at least -1 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Latilactobacillus sakei
L. curvatus
L. plantarum
Pediococcus pentosaceus
Lactic acid bacteria

Large pieces of connective tissue and soft fat are removed. Output: trimmed lean and fat, never frozen.

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

What makes this one different

Most Italian salami are only mildly acidified; the Felino and Piacentino specifications keep the final pH at 5.2–5.3 or higher, while northern European sausages are usually more acid. They rely on salt, nitrate or nitrite and slow drying in cool, humid rooms rather than a strong lactic sour.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Salame Felino IGPParma province; 6–8 mm mince, natural casing, at least 25 days maturing; see its entry.
  • Salame Piacentino DOPPiacenza province below 900 m; coarse mince over 10 mm, at least 45 days; see its entry.
  • Salamini italiani alla cacciatora DOPSmall hunter's salami, warm-dried at 18–25 °C and matured at least 10 days.
  • Finocchiona IGP, Ciauscolo IGP, Soppressata di Calabria DOPFennel salami, a soft spreadable salame, and a flattened Calabrian salame; see their entries.
  • 'NdujaSpreadable Calabrian pork and chilli, smoked and fermented.
  • Salame cotto (Piedmont)Cooked before or after curing; a boundary case.

Safety

Salami is eaten raw, so its safety rests on salt, nitrite or nitrate, competition from lactic bacteria and drying. Since 9 October 2025 EU law caps added nitrite in non-heat-treated meat products at 80 mg/kg (residual at most 45 mg/kg) and added nitrate at 90 mg/kg, or 110 mg/kg in dry sausages made without nitrite. EU rules treat a ready-to-eat food as unable to support Listeria when its pH is 4.4 or less, its water activity 0.92 or less, or both pH 5.0 or less and water activity 0.94 or less. Italian salami sit above pH 5.2, so low water activity has to do this work.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes (fermented sausages had one of the highest rates at retail in the EU, 3.1 %); Salmonella; Clostridium botulinum (controlled by added nitrite and nitrate).

History and sources

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

Italian specifications trace salami making in Parma and Piacenza back to Roman pork curing; a carving of salami appears in the Baptistery of Parma (1196–1307), and Salame Felino entered the Italian dictionary in 1905.

  1. [felino] Salame Felino IGP, single document (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 186/2013, annex II) and production specification in force, synoptic text published with the 2023 amendment request, Bollettino Ufficiale della Regione Emilia-Romagna, 13 February 2023spec
  2. [felino-reg] Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 186/2013 of 5 March 2013 entering Salame Felino (PGI) in the register, with the single documentspec
  3. [piacentino] Salame Piacentino DOP, request to amend the production specification (Consorzio Salumi DOP Piacentini), Bollettino Ufficiale della Regione Emilia-Romagna, April 2012spec
  4. [eu2023-2108] Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2108 of 6 October 2023 amending Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 as regards nitrites and nitratesspec
  5. [eu2073] Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs (as amended), Listeria monocytogenes criteria for ready-to-eat foodsspec
  6. [rossi2023] Rossi F., Tucci P., Del Matto I., Marino L., Amadoro C., Colavita G. 2023, Autochthonous cultures to improve safety and standardize quality of traditional dry fermented meats, Microorganisms 11(5):1306paper
  7. [nikodinoska2023] Nikodinoska I. et al. 2023, Characterization of lactic acid bacteria isolated from spontaneously fermented sausages, bioprotective, technological and functional properties, Foods 12(4):727paper