REFERENCES

sausage was placed in a smokehouse (80-90% RH) and heated in a step-wise manner at 27, 32, and 46 or 71 ° C, respectively, for varying periods of time. The heated sausage was cooled to an internal temperature of 16-18 ° C. by spraying with cold water. The sausage was dried in a chamber at 10 ° C. and 72 % R.H. for 5 to 12 days. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Preliminary production trials were con-ducted to evaluate the acceptability of fer-mented dry sausage made from turkey meat. The most acceptable sausages were produced using the following heating treatment: 27 ° C. for 3 hr., 32 ° C. for 4 hr., and 46 ° C. for 5 hr. Heating for longer periods of time resulted in a product with an undesirable sharp-acid flavor. A final heating temperature of 71 ° C. Tather than 46 ° C. gave a pro-nounced cooked flavor and an unacceptable dry texture. The optimum drying time was considered to be 8 days and resulted in a SODIUM chloride and polyphosphates in-crease the water holding capacity (WHC) of red meats (Hamm, 1971), However, their possible role in poultry meat is not known. Baker et al. (1972a) reported an improvement weight loss of 35-45%. The final product had an acceptable tangy flavor based upon evalu-ations obtained at informal tasting sessions. Interestingly, none of the tasters was able to recognize turkey meat flavor in the finished product. The results of microbiological stud-ies conducted during the processing of this product have been reported elsewher