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Fermentation Atlas

Meat from Italy

Salamini italiani alla cacciatora DOPSalamini italiani alla cacciatora

Salamini italiani alla cacciatora are small salami of minced Italian heavy-pig lean and hard fat, seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic. They are stuffed into casings no wider than 75 mm, dried warm and then matured for at least ten days. The finished salami are no more than 60 mm wide and 350 g in weight. Made in 6 steps over 10 days. The longest step, mature in ventilated rooms, takes at least 10 days (Consorzio Cacciatore Italiano 2019) and runs at 10–15 °C (Consorzio Cacciatore Italiano 2019). Lactic acid bacteria and Latilactobacillus sakei do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 10 daysSet[disc-2023]Mature in ventilated rooms
Temperature10–15 °CSet[disc-2023]Mature in ventilated rooms
AciditypH at least 5.3Set[disc-2023]Mature in ventilated rooms
Fully documentedMeat10 daysPDO (DOP), registered by Regulation (EC) No 1778/2001 of 7 September 2001More meatMore from Italy

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification lists the ingredients and the additive limits but gives no fixed recipe amounts for salt, pepper or garlic; each producer sets them.
Lean pork from striated muscle (shoulder, loin) · From Italian heavy pigs of at least 160 kg (plus or minus 10 %) and at least nine months old; mechanically separated meat is not allowed[disc-2023][arsial]
Hard pork fat (back fat and other firm subcutaneous fat)[disc-2023][arsial]
To tasteSalt, pepper in pieces or ground, and garlic[disc-2023]
Optional wine, sugar, dextrose or fructose, and starter cultures[disc-2023]
At most 195 ppm nitrate and 95 ppm nitrite (sodium or potassium salts)Optional nitrate and nitrite, plus ascorbic acid or sodium ascorbate · Specification limits. A 2023 amendment request lowers the nitrate cap to 150 ppm, and EU additive law has set lower caps since 9 October 2025 (see safety)[disc-2023]
Starterspontaneous or added starter cultures; techniques for accelerated fermentation are not allowed

Total time across the recorded steps: 10 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
up to 7 °C

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

Step 1 of 6
Trim the lean and the fat, then chill
Time
Not documented
Temperature
up to 7 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Lactobacilli
Latilactobacillus sakei
Staphylococcus xylosus

Large pieces of connective tissue and soft fat are cut away. Output: trimmed, chilled lean and hard fat.

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

Cacciatorini are small salami, sized for a hunter's bag at no more than 60 mm wide and 350 g, so the specification asks for only ten days of maturing, drying included. Accelerated fermentation is not allowed, and the finished pH must stay at 5.3 or above, so the salami tastes sweet, not sour.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Sliced or portioned salaminiSlicing and packing must also take place inside the DOP area.

Safety

Salamini are eaten raw, so their safety rests on salt, nitrite or nitrate, competition from lactic bacteria and drying. 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. The specification keeps pH at 5.3 or above, so drying has to do this work. Since 9 October 2025 EU law caps added nitrite in non-heat-treated meat products at 80 mg/kg and added nitrate at 90 mg/kg, lower than the specification's older limits.

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

History and sources

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

The name comes from the small ration hunters carried in their bags. Oral tradition dates the salami to the Lombard invasions of northern Italy. Production spread from the Lombard hills to the rest of the north and centre. The name was protected in Italy's bilateral agreements with France, Germany, Spain and Austria, and registered as a DOP on 7 September 2001.

  1. [disc-2023] Consorzio Cacciatore Italiano, request to amend the production specification of the DOP Salamini italiani alla cacciatora, with the specification in force (single document published in OJ C 359, 23 October 2019) set beside the proposed text, Bollettino Ufficiale della Regione Emilia-Romagna, May 2023spec
  2. [reg-2001] Commission Regulation (EC) No 1778/2001 of 7 September 2001 registering Salamini italiani alla cacciatora as a protected designation of origin; application summary AGRI/5324/96 (eAmbrosia file PDO-IT-1301)spec
  3. [arsial] ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultural development), Salamini italiani alla cacciatora DOP, in Lazio patrimonio agroalimentare, pp. 21–22gov
  4. [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
  5. [eu2023-2108] Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2108 of 6 October 2023 amending Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 as regards nitrites and nitrates (food category 08.3.1, non-heat-treated meat products)spec
  6. [eu2073] Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs (as amended), Listeria monocytogenes criteria for ready-to-eat foodsspec