As used here, the term meat products indicates in general any meat based food product, including pork or mixed meats for example, which has been salted and possibly smoked or packed into a sausage. This general category includes e. g. sausages, that is meat products consisting of meat which has been chopped or minced, sometimes blended into a fine and homogenous paste, and enclosed in a natural casing such as animal intestine or a synthetic casing.

Meat products can further be divided into products to be eaten cooked and products to be eaten raw after a period of maturing.

Maturing is generally carried out in an environment with a temperature of around 10-12°C and a degree of humidity not greater than 90%. The duration of this maturation period depends on numerous factors, including for example the weight of the meat product, the type of casing used and the degree of maturation required.

For a sausage product of a final weight of around 1. 5kg in a natural casing, the maturation period can be of 30 to 40 days, for example, depending on the degree of maturation desired.

During the maturing process the meat product undergoes a complex fermentation with protein peptonization and the formation of the compounds responsible for smell and taste from available fats and glycogen.

There is also a considerable weight loss during maturing, sometimes as much as 45-50%. In order to overcome-this problem, water is often added during the preparation of meat products in order to give a paste-like consistency and increase weight, while additives are also added in order to facilitate water absorption.

The present invention provides a method for the maturing and transformation of meat products which has the advantages of, on the one hand, considerably reducing the loss of weight which occurs during maturing and, on the other, of reducing the duration of the maturing period.

These advantages are achieved by providing a method for the maturing and transformation of meat products which includes the steps of: a) covering a meat product with a coating layer constituted by a substantially homogeneous paste of clay and water; b) allowing the thus coated meat product to remain in an environment with a temperature no higher than 18°C and a degree of humidity no higher than 80% until the desired degree of maturity is reached; and c) possibly removing the coating layer from the product.

In the method of the invention, the starting product is a fresh (i. e. finished but not matured) meat product. The method of the invention can be applied to any type of meat product which needs to be matured, either of a sausage type or not, such as salami, mocetta, raw ham, lard, pancetta bacon or coppa.

In step a) of the method, the product is coated with a substantially homogeneous paste of clay and water (henceforth also referred to as a"coating layer").

The clay and water paste is obtained, for example, by mixing water and clay in a preferred ratio of 1-1. 5litres of water to 2.5-3 kilos of clay.

The coating layer is preferably between 1.5 and 2cm thick, in dependence on the size of the meat product.

In the case of raw ham, the surface of which usually has an area not covered by rind, it is preferable to coat this area with a cloth made of a transpiring material (such as linen for example), before coating it with clay, in order to prevent the clay coming into direct contact with the meat.

In step b) of the method (maturing), the meat product, coated as described above, is placed in an environment with a temperature no higher than 18°C and a degree of humidity no higher than 80% and left there until it has reached the desired degree, of maturity. The aforesaid values of temperature and humidity make it possible to slow the drying out of the clay and therefore to keep the coating layer intact. During the maturing process, in fact, the coating layer gradually contracts as the clay dries out and is also subject to pressure caused by expansion of the maturing product.

During this step of the method, the meat product can be left resting in either a horizontal or a vertical position. In the latter case, the product is suspended from a support structure. To this end, it is preferable if the meat product is contained in a casing able to support the overall weight of the meat product and the clay coating, such as a metal or a plastics net, this being suspended from the support structure by means of a hook or similar means of suspension.

Finally, when the meat product has reached the desired degree of maturity and is ready to be marketed, the coating layer can be removed (step c) of the method) and the meat product is ready for final preparation (such as packaging for example), which are not described here since they do not specifically form part of the invention.

Alternatively, the meat product can be left in the clay coating which then acts as packaging.

As will be shown in greater detail in the following examples, the method of transformation and maturing of the invention has the advantage of reducing the loss of weight undergone by the meat product during the maturing process.

In addition, the method of the invention makes it possible to shorten the duration of the maturation period while at the same time providing a product with improved organoleptic properties in comparison with an identical meat product matured using conventional methods without the clay coating.

The clay coating has the effect of countering loss of moisture and of thus reducing the weight loss which occurs during maturing, thereby providing considerable advantages both in economic terms and in the organoleptic characteristics of the finished product, which is. more tender and resilient. It has also been demonstrated that the clay coating does not encourage the growth of unwelcome bacterial flora.

Another object of the present invention is mature meat product, preferably of a sausage type, obtained by means of the maturing and transformation method described above.

The scope of the invention covers both a meat product matured as described above and still in its clay coating and a meat product matured as described above but which has had the clay coating removed.

The examples which follow are provided purely by way of example and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.

Example 1 A fresh salami (that is one that had not been matured) weighing about 1. 5kg and enclosed in animal intestine, was coated in a clay paste obtained by mixing water and clay in a ratio of 1 litre for every 3kg of clay. A layer of about 1. 5cm was applied over the entire surface of the product. The coated salami was kept for 30 days in an environment with a temperature of around 15°C and a degree of humidity of around 80%.

For comparison, a fresh salami (that is one that had not been matured) weighing about 1. 5kg and enclosed in animal intestine, was matured for 30 days in the conditions of temperature and humidity given above.

At the end of the 30-day period, the salami coated according to the present invention and the uncoated salami were weighed. The uncoated salami had lost around 50% of its initial weight, while the coated salami had lost around 20%.

Example 2 It is known that during the maturing process the pH value of a charcuterie product is subject to variations caused by the growth of lactobacilli, which are the organisms responsible for the lactic fermentation of sugars.

Typically, the pH of the product falls during the maturing process and then rises to its approximate initial level by the end of the maturing process.

In order to compare the maturation speed of the two products of example 1 (the salami coated in clay according to the invention and a uncoated salami for comparison) the variation of pH was compared over the period.

The pH value measured at the start of the maturing period was of 5.7 for both products.

In the case of the uncoated salami, the pH value fell during maturing to a value of 5.2 and then returned to 5.7 after 30 days maturing in the temperature and humidity conditions described in Example 1. In the case of the clay-coated salami, the pH value fell to 4.8 and then rose again to 5.5 only 15 days into the maturing period, under the temperature and humidity conditions described in Example 1.

The results obtained indicate clearly that the maturing method of the invention enables the maturing period to be reduced by about 50%.