Influenza della tecnologia di produzione sulle caratteristiche tecnologiche, chimiche e microbiologiche del “Ventricina Vastese”

""Ventricina" is a traditional Italian fermented sausage made with the finest cuts of fresh pork meat and large pieces of fat, spiced with sweet and hot pepper. This sausage is characterized by the particular production technology used. The meat is, in fact, cut manually using the knife tip to avoid the fat disintegrating. For this reason Ventricina is particular for its uneven texture. However this kind of production technology represents a limit for the market expansion of "Ventricina". The aim of this work was to evaluate the possibility to mechanically mince the meat preserving the uniqueness and the particular features of the Ventricina. The effects of mechanically mincing the meat on the chemical and microbiological features of the Ventricina were studied. Moreover the elfects of nitrate on the microbiological characteristics of the Ventricina were investigated. Results showed that there were no differenccs in the qualitative parameters of the Ventricina obtained from mechanically mincing the meat and those prepared following the traditional recipe."