In recent years, consumer perception about the healthiness of meat products has changed.
In this scenario, the meat industry and the scientific and technological areas have put their efforts into
improving meat products and achieving healthier and functional formulations that meet the demands
of today’s market and consumers. This article aims to review the current functional fermented
meat products, especially on sausage development. Firstly, an emphasis is given to reducing and
replacing traditional ingredients associated with increased risk to consumer’s health (sodium, fat, and
nitrites), adding functional components (prebiotics, probiotics, symbiotics, and polyphenols), and
inducing health benefits. Secondly, a look at future fermented sausages is provided by mentioning
emerging strategies to produce innovative healthier and functional meat products. Additional
recommendations were also included to assist researchers in further development of healthier and
functional sausages.
The authors are members of the HealthyMeat network, funded by CYTED
(ref. 119RT0568). Thanks are extended to GAIN (Axencia Galega de Innovación) for supporting
this research (grant number IN607A2019/01). P.E.S.M. acknowledges postdoctoral fellowship
support from the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN, Spain) “Juan de la Cierva”
program (IJC2020-043358-I).
