Preliminary results on the donkey salami made in Sicily

In a dairy jennet farm the meat, which can be produced using the foals in excess, could be another profitable income. Equine meat is very thin and with high protein content; above all, the fatty acids are unsaturated, being a monogastric animal product. The donkey meat processed products are sold in niche market and are very appreciated by the European consumers. A study on the characteristics of the donkey salami made in Sicily was carried out using a 12 months old foal derived from Ragusano breed. Two different mixes were compared: only donkey meat (A thesis) and donkey meat plus the 10% of Nero Siciliano pig fat (AS thesis). The meat was husked of fat and nerves and mixed with 3.5 kg/q of Aromil D.S+Nisal, 1l/q of Nero D’Avola wine, 150 g/q of not crushed white pepper, and the following crushed spices: 150 g/q of black pepper, 150 g/q of white pepper and 60 g/q of garlic. The mixes were gloomed with a holed plate (Ø 8 mm). After that, the chopped fat pig in the AS mix was added. The A and AS mixes were bagged in mutton gut (Ø 24/26). The fresh salami weighed on average 205 g, and for 4 days were dried, modifying the temperature (T) from 22 to 16°C and the relative humidity (R.H.) from 60 to 75%. After that, for 30 days the products were cured at T=14°C and R.H.=78%. At the slaughtering the lived animal and the carcass weights were registered. At the salami production the weights of the bones, the meat and the other tissues of each carcass quarter were registered, while the salami weights at the beginning and at the end of the drying period and at 15 and 30 days of the curing period. In the same time samples of salami were collected for pH determination and microbiological analyses. The salami chemical composition was determined at the bagging and at the end of the curing period. The lived animal weight was 245 kg. The slaughtering, the meat, the bones and the fat yields were respectively 58, 53, 24 and 23%. During the curing period the weight decrease was on average higher in the A than in the AS salami (final value: A=55% vs AS=49%). This result could be affected by the higher water content in the muscle tissues than in the fat ones. The pH trend was for both theses on line with the values of a normal curing process, but the A thesis achieved more rapidly a pH value >6, in relation with a higher weight decrease. This result shows the possibility to reduce the curing period at <30 days for the salami produced by only donkey meat. The protein and the fat contents of the cured products were respectively equal to 59.0 and 26.0% in A, and 42.7 and 45.3% in AS, in accordance to the fat pig addition in the AS mix. The microbiological analyses showed the absence of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. and the presence of coliforms, Escherichia coli and enterococcus. Their concentrations were higher in the mixes and decreased during the curing. This result requires an improvements of hygienic environmental conditions during the making process.