**Marco Cullere <sup>1</sup> , Enrico Novelli <sup>2</sup> and Antonella Dalle Zotte 1,\***


Received: 13 March 2020; Accepted: 7 April 2020; Published: 10 April 2020

**Abstract:** The experiment studied the effect of two different fat inclusion levels (30% and 40%), NaCl contents (2.4 and 2.6%) and starter cultures (lactic acid bacteria (LAB) 6: *L. curvatus*/*S. xylosus*; LAB 8: *L. sakei*/*S. xylosus*) on the weight loss and nutritional composition of Italian-type ostrich salami. With this purpose, 8 batches of 9 salami each (*n* = 72) were prepared. Salami were ripened for 20 weeks: weight loss was monitored throughout the experiment, while salami nutritional composition was evaluated at 10 and 20 weeks of ripening. The lowest fat and highest salt inclusion levels provided the highest cumulative weight loss throughout the trial. At 10 weeks of ripening, salami with 40% fat were the richest in moisture and fat, whereas the leanest ones had the highest protein, ash and cholesterol contents. LAB 6 provided salami with the highest moisture and protein, while LAB 8 increased fat and cholesterol contents. At 20 weeks of ripening the proximate composition of ostrich salami was solely affected by fat inclusion level, with similar findings to those observed at 10 weeks. Overall, fat inclusion level had a great impact on the weight loss and nutritional composition of Italian-style ostrich salami. Reducing the NaCl inclusion from 2.6% to 2.4%, the weight loss of ostrich salami was retarded by approximately 1 week, without affecting the nutritional composition of the final product. Results of the study suggested that it is feasible to produce salami with lower fat and salt contents, while ensuring satisfactory product quality.

**Keywords:** Italian-type salami; ostrich meat; sodium reduction; fat reduction; starter cultures; meat processing
