MXPA99003455A - Process and apparatus to prepare peper - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for preparing Italian sausage cut into cubes or slice includes the steps of: preparing the meat mixture for sausage (pepperoni) by grinding and mixing to the specification. The combined sauce is extruded as a leaf for fermentation and cooking, after which the cooled meat mixture is refrigerated at 35 ° F (1.6 ° C) or less and sliced or cut into cubes. The product is then transported to a spiral dryer where it is exposed to relatively hot air (50 ° F (10 ° C) to 120 ° F (49 ° C) at initial relative humidity of 30% or less under turbulent airflow.) Dried sausage is transported to a refrigerator or freezer The sausage has the characteristics of desirable flow when compared to a product prepared using the processes known for the manufacture of sausage

Description

PROCESS AND APPARATUS TO PREPARE PEPERONI BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates, in general, to the technique of preparing a sausage product that is dry or dried, and, more especially, to a method for the preparation of pepperoni. In this most preferred form, the present invention relates to the preparation of cubed or cut sliced peppers, wherein the sausage is cooked without using casings or casings and where the dehydration step is carried out in a dryer under a loop under air turbulent.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Many different processes have been used in the prior art to make smoked, dried or semi-dry cured sausages, and many of these processes are known to prepare pepperoni. In some of the processes of the prior art, the initial meat mixture is cured and then dried or heated to air, sunlight, drying rooms, smokers and the like. The time d cured or dried in many of the historical processes, some processes still used, requires many hours, days or even weeks. A wide variety of end products qualities result from the use of ancient techniques and recipes. The pepperoni is usually prepared by filling the desired meat mixture in fibrous casings and curing the resulting product for extended periods. This particular sausage is most commonly served in thin slices, with or without the cover, the cover being removed after cooking, if it is not removed in any way. The pizzas of pepperoni, for example, are the best-selling pizza products. Worldwide. An attempt of the prior art to reduce the time required for the preparation of such sausage products is described in U.S. Patent No. 2,346,232 published April 11, 1944 by Pirai, et al for 'Meat Processing. "In this patent, meat Semi dry for food ration purposes is prepared in shorter period than previously required, by exposing the meat mixture to a turbulent air flow to reduce the original moisture content of 45-85% up to 20 55%. The air used in this process is at a temperature of 0 ° C-30 ° C (32 ° F to 86 ° F) and air is moved through the surface of the meat at a rate of 1-1 ft / second. The meat products treated in this patent are produced in thin layers of 1 / 4-1 inch or threads of 3/8 inches in diameter for drying.For cavities d 3/8 inches, drying is done up to 28% approximately 8-13 hours, while the 1-inch layers require in 13 days, still a relatively short period when compared with the previous processes. It is said that the benefits of turbulent flow are increased by 40% at the beginning of the process where the wet surface comes into contact with the air. The effect of the turbulent airflow of this patent is substantially reduced as drying continues. For example, in a test reported in the patent, the drying of 3/8 inch wires from 55% to 40% moisture took just 3 hours while a larger reduction to 28% required an additional 5 hours. It is of interest to note that the patent does not reveal any direct relationship between the humidity of the air used in the process and the drying time. The patent claims at 75% relative humidity, although many of the examples use relative humidity of 20-25%, 40% and 75%. The product is stored in flat trays in the examples of the patent. Another process for preparing sausage is described in United States Patent No. 3,482,996 published December 9, 1996 by Christianson, et al. for 'Process for preparing dry or semi-dry sausages.' In this patent, the meat compositions include edible protein fibers, spun, dehydrated or dehydrated fibrous products derived from protein fibers, spun foods to substantially reduce the drying time. they supposedly take the moisture that is commonly removed in the drying room. "The preparation of partially dehydrated meat products" is discussed in US Pat. No. 4, 265,918 published by Kueper, et al. on May 5, 1981 The technique discussed in this patent includes immersing meat product in a curing solution, followed by vacuum dehydration. The initial hydration step and up to about 105-125% of the original weight of the products followed by vacuum treatment to reduce the total weight of the product to 70-95% of its original weight. The process is especially well suited for sliced meat products, such as bacon. Still another process is described in the United States Patent No. 4,279,935 to Kentor published on July 21, 1981 for 'Processing of dried sausage with acid addition. "In this process, bactericides and bacteriostats are first added to the meat, followed by treatment with an acid mixture to reduce the pH to about 5.7.The sausage is then heated to minus 58 ° C and the drying is controlled to reduce the average moisture level up to about 35% .The drying time is in order 5-20 days Another well-known process is to form bacon-like meatloaf, and the like, using an extruder to form sheets of meat mixtures.For bacon analogs, the extrusion can be multilayer. of the meat products are cooked and then cut into slices, for example, to prepare bacon-like products that have alternating layers that look like fat and look like meat. The processes are discussed in the following U.S. Patents: U.S. Patent No. 5,236,731 published August 17, 1993, by Heinz Bec er for 'Process for the manufacture of uncoated sausage, which can be cut "; U.S. Patent No. 4,667,369 published May 26, 198, Eugene F. Felstehausen for 'Extruded Extruded Meat Equipment', US Patent No. 4,530.13 published July 23, 1985 by Richard C. Agner for 'Apparatus formed of meatloaf "; State Patent No. 4,3035,965 published December 15, 1981 by Ea J. Cheney for 'Bacon and Meat Analogs'; United States Patent No. 4,260,640 published April 7, 1981 Hartmann, et al, para' Molded food products "U.S. Patent No. 4,200,959 issued on Jan. 6, 1980, by Earl J. Cheney for" Apparatus for forming bacon analogs and the like "; U.S. Patent No. 4,196,222 published April 1, 1980 by Earl. Chen for 'Process for the preparation of bacon meat analogues'; U.S. Patent No. 4,166,138 published August, 1979 by Ziminski, et al. for 'Preparation of bacon-like meat analogs.' In addition to the prior art described above, applicants are also aware that coiled conveyor belt equipment is known for a variety of food preparation processes. The food product can be frozen or heated as it moves along a conveyor belt that forms a number of bundles or levels within the spiral system, an example of these spiral systems is known from US Patent No. 4,077,666 published on 21 March, 1978 for Plemons, et al. for 'Apparatus for the treatment of baked products to improve the life and storage of the same. " Crust pizzas are treated with ethyl alcohol after they have been cooled in a spiral path. The spiral refrigerator and advantageously used to reduce the size of the area required to cool and for the temperature control of the pizza crust leaving the refrigerator taking advantage of the capacity to control the speed of the conveyor belt and the air temperature inside the enclosure.

The cooking of foodstuffs using spiral devices is shown in U.S. Patent No. 5,178,120 published on January 7, 1992 from H ang par 'Cooking oven for slow cooking of foodstuffs "and in Resiisue 35,259 (originally U.S. Patent No. 4,582,047) published on January 4, 199 of Williams for 'Steam oven with high humidity co transportadora of continuous movement ". In the first, the cooking chamber (using steam or hot air) is divided into high pressure and low pressure areas to improve the efficient heat transfer in it. The processed food products include chicken or parts of poultry, hamburgers, fish croquettes, vegetable feed and other food products that can be cooked in a predominantly steam atmosphere. In the last patent, washing baths of cleaned detergent operated continuously are used with a furnace with spiral vap equipped with two separate steam sources. This patent also focuses on the cooking of meat, food, fish or poultry with vapor pressure exceeding one atmosphere at 100 ° C and 100% humidity. While these processes of previous techniques have proved successful for established purposes, there are important steps that can still be taken to improve the quality and manufacture of dry or semi-dry sausages. In the present case, such an improvement is made in relation to peperoni, especially the type of peperoni that is used in large quantities for the preparation of pizzas. The present prior art practice is to prepare the peperoni using conventional processes using mixtures, filling the meat mixture in the casing by cooking the meat mixture and curing, after which the product is cut into thin slices. The thin slices are then placed on top of the pizza for packing. Because drying and curing processes require several days to several weeks, the production capacity for easy processing is limited by the capacity d allocated to the drying process. This process requires capital and a huge amount of product that is kept in process in any period of time. These current processes require that the peperoni be kept in the wrapping during the curing and drying phase, which reduces the speed at which moisture can be removed from the product and increases the cost of manufacturing. The preservation of pepperoni in this wrap during the dry season also does not allow the possibility of cutting into slices to cut the product in cubes prior to drying, which would increase the surface area of the product and help to eliminate moisture. Consequently, a method of making peperoni that overcomes these disadvantages can be a significant advance in this technique.

Characteristics and Compendium of the Invention A main feature of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing process for preparing peperoni. Another feature of the present invention is also to provide a cured peperoni product that slides easily and can easily be spread over other food products, such as pizza. A different object of the present invention is to employ a spiral drying system for drying peperoni which has been prepared for drying by mixing uncooked meat product and spices, and cooking the unfilled meat mixture in casings. In the present process, the mixture of uncooked meat is extruded into a cooking sheet. The pepperoni is cut into slices or cubed after it is cooled to a temperature that facilitates this process. The temperature and humidity of the air flow of the spiral system used to dry the salchich is controlled. Still another object of the present invention is preparing peperoni in a relatively small amount of processing space and a minimum amount of time. The manner in which this and other objects of the present invention are performed is described in the following 'Detailed description of the preferred embodiment. "E general, however, they are made by a process that first includes the elaboration of a cooked peperoni. This process comprises formulating a meat mixture to the desired specifications and initially grinding the meat (eg, beef and / or pork) to a size no greater than about half (1/2) inch (1.27 cm). The meat is then added to a mixer and mixed with culture salt, water and spices, oleoresins, dextrose, and the like. Mixing is carried out for up to about 5 minutes after which a second grind occurs, this time au size not greater than 3/16"(0.48 cm) .The bone is usually removed at this stage.The temperature of the meat is maintained at less than 40 ° F in the preferred process of milled mixing.Following the second step of grinding, the Meat mixture is extruded on a sieve to a thickness approximately 23 inches (3") (58.4 cm) and is transferred to ovens where it is fermented or cooked. In the present invention, the cooked sausage is then cooled to an internal temperature of at least about 35 ° F, after which the cooked, cooled potato mixture is cut into slices and diced. The peperoni is then transferred to the conveyor belt with a spiral dryer where it is exposed to air maintained at approximately 50 and 120 ° F and a relative humidity of less approximately 30% for a time of approximately 1 H hours. The flow of air through the dryer is in the order of 400-500 cubic feet per minute for an air flow over the peperoni of approximately 3-15 feet per second. The moisture of the meat product is reduced to a ratio less than or equal to 1.6: 1 with respect to the protein. The pepperoni is then transported to a cooler, where it is chilled or frozen for subsequent transfer to the customer or pizza preparation line. Other ways in which the features of the present invention can be realized will be apparent to those skilled in the art after they read this specification. The other ways are considered within the scope of our invention if they fall within the scope of the claims that follow.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a schematic top view of equipment used to carry out the peperoni slicing, drying and freezing slicing steps in the most preferred form of the present invention. Figure 2 is a side view of a spiral dryer of the most preferred embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of the spiral dryer used in the most preferred embodiment of the present invention, with separate parts to illustrate the internal components.

Detailed description of the preferred modality Before proceeding to the description of the preferred modality, several comments in general can be made about the applicability and scope of the same. First, the particular meat mixture, including flavoring species, salt, crops and the like may be widely varied by those skilled in the art, and is not mentioned herein for any separate sausage formulation and in addition to the elaboration techniques. described later. Second, although the particulate grind sizes will be referred to for the various stages of the process, this size can also be varied by those skilled in the art who can appreciate the corresponding need for further modifications to the process, for example, in relation to co times and temperatures. Third, certain manufacturers, model names, numbers will be for the machinery used in the most preferred form of the invention, but can be replaced by other machinery, as appreciated by experts in the art.

Fourth, certain ranges are given for the humidity, velocity of the conveyor belt air flow characteristics for the preferred mode, again based on the desired particulate volumes, space requirements and other needs of the transferee of the invention. After reading this specification, one skilled in the art will understand that the selection of the optimum number for these variables can be made once the plant and all the process parameters of a particular processing facility are known.

Fifth, they are to reveal the preferred systems for temperature control and air humidity transported to and removed from the housing by the rows of the spiral conveyor belt. This can also be varied by replacing, for example, mechanical chemical systems directly to recycle air heating, depending on the energy cost considerations of a normal plant, the distribution of the similar plant, and in general, the values of humidity and temperatur used in the process tolerate some progressive variabilidade due to, for example, changes in the environment temperature of the plant and other related factors. We proceed now to a description of the preferred mode m, the process will be described first, and then several drawings will be used to illustrate a preferred distribution of a plant and a preferred technique for modifying a conventional spiral freezer so that it can be used as a Sausage drying device in the present invention. The first step of the process is the formulation of the meat mixture (for example, beef, pork, poultry, etc.) for the desired specifications, including the specification for fat. These specifications can be established by the processor or by the customer. Initially, the meat was coarsely ground as is well known in the pepperoni industry. In many cases it will be at a size no larger than approximately one-half inch (1.27 cm). The formulated meat is then placed in a mixture where it is mixed with the desired salt, culture, water species, including any specified oleoresin, dextrose. More details are not required here, since the recipe or formulation in and of it is not part of the present invention. As is the case with current practice, the mixer can be operated for approximately 1 minute to completely mix the ingredients. After mixing, the meat mixture passes through a final grind, where it is reduced to a size not more than about 3/16"(0.5 cm.) A bone removal system can be used here, if the bone has not easily removed in the process.When the car mixture leaves the final milling station, it should be optimally close to 40 ° F less (4 ° C) .The next step in the process is to mechanically extrude the mixture into sieves. process and extrude the sausage in sheets approximately 2 to inches (2-4") (5.08 to 10 cm) deep and up to 1 inch (12") (30.4 cm) wide by 36 inches (36") (9 cm ) long. The size of the leaf, including the depth may vary, with corresponding changes in the parameters of cooking and fermentation. The shelves are transferred ovens where the fermentation takes place with a temperature in the sausage of about 100 ° F (37.8 ° C) per doc up to eighteen (12-18) hours. The air temperature should be maintained at about 90 ° F (32 ° C) to 110 ° F (43 ° C). In a subsequent cooking step for 3-4 hours at about 140 ° (60 ° C), the internal temperature of the sausage rises to 120 ° F (49 ° C) or higher for one hour or more, preferably about 128 ° F (53 ° C). The cooked sausage is then cooled to an internal temperature of 35 ° F (1.6 ° C) or less. The cold sausage is cut into slices or sliced and cut into cubes, preferably cubed, using, for example, a Urschel model M cutter to a size of approximately 5/16"(0.79 cm). / 16"(0.7 cm) is also preferred. The size was not considered as limiting the scope of the invention. For example, the cut size in slices or cubes can be W or 3/8 (0.6 or 0.95 cm) if desired. After being sliced or sliced and cut into cubes, the meat is placed on specially configured spiral conveyors and driers. One type of spiral system that can be modified for use in the present invention is the Frigoscandia Gyro Commpac Spria Conveyor model GC106. In this apparatus, the product enters the lower part of the housing and spirals around a number of rows of the band and leaves close to the upper part of the equipment. The number of rows is determined quickly by those who are familiar with this technology by calculating the initial moisture level, the desired final moisture level, the relative humidity of the air, the total amount of water that can be removed, the temperature, and speed of the conveyor belt. The system of the present invention, an appropriate conveyor belt provides approximately 7,000 feet (2134 meters) of product area, with an average area per row of 190 square feet and 38-42 rows. The conveyor belt moves at speeds that can be controlled but in the present invention, it is preferable to use a conveyor belt speed approximately 3 to 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5 m) per minute. The air pressure across the row stack of the conveyor belt is approximately 2"(5.08 cm) of water, and air flow of 3-13 feet (0.9-3.9cm) linear per minute of air. The spiral conveyor belt and the airflow system are optimally used to reduce the amount of moisture contained in cut or cubed or sliced products, from initial levels in the order of 50 to a final moisture content where the ratio of humidity to protein is equal to 1.6: 1. This is achieved by the exposure of the pepperoni inside the conveyor belt to air that has been dried at a relative humidity of less about 30% for up to about 1.5 hours turbulent airflow, being preferred 30 minutes up to 1 hour.The temperature of the air entering the dryer is maintained between approximately 50 ° F (10 ° C) up to 120 ° (49 ° C.) An air management system with large capacity could provide a capacity of mov of air approximately 130, 000 cubic feet per minute. The system involves the use of a fixed variable speed fan placed inside the drying cabinet. The vent pushes or draws air through the stack of conveyor rows. Another feature of the drying process is the flow of air downward through the center of the spiral rows and radially outward on food production. By itself, this air distribution system is known, but it is not used for the drying of pepper. The air can enter the upper part of the cabinet, being exposed in its drier state to the product from which some moisture has already been removed. As the air gathers moisture and travels down in the dryer, relatively higher humidity levels are found. As will be more apparent when the plant layout is described later in this application, the proper characteristics for air entering dryer are achieved by the use of steam coils cooling coils. It should be remembered at this point that most of the spiral systems used to date are used to freeze product, or for cooking products, as illustrated by the references of the previous technique already described in this specification. Because of its application, and depending on the environmental conditions existing in the plant, it may be necessary to heat the year to cool it, and refrigeration systems are highly desirable to aid in the elimination of water, as is known in the art of water management. air. It is also possible to modify the system that can be described in detail including chemical desiccant systems for moisture removal. More information regarding the dryer will be provided in a later section of the specification.

Returning to the general characteristics of the process, the dried peperoni is transported from the top of the drying cabinet to a freezing tunnel or other system to cool or freeze the product to be packed or moved for use with the particular final product, such as Pizza. While the drying may be completed at about hour to about 1 H hours, the time required to freeze or cool the product and preferably to less than about 0 ° F (-17 ° C) will depend on the length of the freezing tunnel, l temperatures there maintained and the speeds of the conveyor belt. Proceeding now to the description of the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a plant arranged to carry out the last steps of the process of the most preferred embodiment of the present invention. The mixing equipment is not shown, as such equipment is well known. In Figure 1, slicing and dicing, drying and chilling is shown in system 10 and includes a series of cube cutting machines 12, 13 and 14, each of which deposits peperoni cut into cubes on a conveyor belt 16. The conveyor belt 16 terminates in a vibrating cover 18 where the product is evenly distributed over the continuous conveyor belt 20 of the unit 22 of the high speed drying. The spiral nature of the high speed dryer 22 is schematically illustrated in this drawing with a single simple spiral row, but as indicated above, numerous rows were used. See also Figure 3. The high speed dryer discharge 22 is deposited on another conveyor 24 to be moved to the freezer 26 As the product passes through the freezer 26, it cools as indicated above. Finally, the cooled product is deposited in a conveyor belt processing 28 to transport it to scales, packed system and the like. The extrusion equipment is illustrated in area 80 of Figure 1. The feed tube 82 d extruder 84 and the screen 86 are illustrated schematically. Cooking area 88 is illustrated only in schematic form, as the equipment itself is conventional. In our preferred baking ovens, even the sieves 86 are contained in a rack inside the baking ovens 88. The slicers 90 are located in front of the cube cutters 12, 13 and 14. Figure 2 shows, in schematic form , the feed conveyor 20, the high speed dryer 22 and two air ducts 28 and 30. The duct 28 a return duct advancing from the lower portion of the drying cabinet while the duct 30 is shown in the upper part of the duct. unity. As previously explained, hot and dry air enters the dryer 22 from the top pair of it passes down through the drying coils or rows and exits through the bottom. T airflow is illustrated schematically by the arrows in this figure. Figure 2 also schematically illustrates the cooling coils and vap coils used in the present invention, as well as the fans located at the top of the stack coils to direct air to the duct 30. The cooling coils are mainly used to remove air humidity (and can be replaced by chemical desiccant systems as mentioned above), after which air is moved through the steam coils to raise it to the proper temperature. Finally, Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of the dryer 22 with the output conveyor conveyor 20 and 23, respectively. The figure is cut to show schematically the spiral nature of the conveyor system in rows located within it. As indicated above, in the preferred form of the invention, 38-40 rows are used, plus those shown in the schematic illustration.

Although the present invention has applicability mainly for the preparation of dry semi-dry sausagesOther types of food products can be dried at an accelerated speed in the dryer 22. For the use of such a dryer, the total time of preparation for preparing peperoni is drastically reduced but, equally important is the increased ability to flow of resulting product. For example, a plurality of pieces of pepperoni in cubes can be squeezed together under the pressure of the hand and separated freely afterwards, different from the oily sensation and the tendency to stick that would occur when using sliced peperoni made by conventional processes. Substantially the processing time and the cost associated with it are reduced, using a system that occupies relatively small spaces in the plant and that is highly reliable. Now that the equipment and processes have been described in sufficient detail to enable a person skilled in the art to practice the preferred form of the invention, it becomes even more obvious, how variations of temperature and humidity can be made by those skilled in the art for take into account a specific manufacturing environment. For example, relatively more heat should be added to the air flow in colder climates, while if processing takes place in humid, hot environments, such as the southern part of the United States, especially during the summer, additional cooling capacity is necessary. to reduce the humidity to a level lower than 30%. It may also be necessary to keep the air in a cool condition downstream of the cooling coils if the ambient temperatures are in excess of 90 ° F (32 ° C) upper end of the preferred range in processing. While the aforementioned invention has been described with respect to this preferred embodiment, the same will not be limited, but will be limited only by the scope of the claims that follow.

Claims (20)

1. A process for the preparation of peperoni which comprises the steps of: preparing a mixture of peperoni meat, extruding the mixture in the form of leaves and fermenting and cooking the resulting sausage; chill the cooked sausage at a sufficiently low temperature to allow slicing; slicing the sausage; deposit the sliced sausage on the conveyor belt of a spiral dryer; pass air conditioning in and through the spiral dryer, the air conditioner having a relative humidity less than 30% and a temperature in the approximate range 50 ° F (10 ° C) to approximately 120 ° F (49 ° C) when inserted into the spiral dryer; transport the sausage through the spiral dryer for a sufficient time to reduce the moisture to protein ratio to 1.6: 1 or less.

2. The process, as mentioned in claim 1 wherein the sliced sausage is cut into cubes before entering spiral dryer.

3. The process, as mentioned in claim 1 wherein the cooling step is carried out until the sausage has an internal temperature of 35 ° F (1.7 ° C) lower.

4. The process, as mentioned in claim 1, wherein the air conditioner passes through the dryer at a sufficient volume to form a linear air flow over the sausage cut into cubes of more than 3 feet per second (90cm / sec) when being transported through dryer,

5. The process, as mentioned in claim 4 wherein the linear air flow rate exceeds 3 ft per second (90cm / sec), but is less than about 1 feet per second (4.6cm).

6. The process, as mentioned in claim 1 wherein the spiral dryer includes a plurality of conveyor hiliers arranged around a vertical axis, or conveyor belt entry in the lower part of the dryer and an exit of the conveyor in the upper pair of the dryer, and where the transportation step carries out introducing the sausage in the dryer in the entrance and removing this in the exit.

7. The process, as mentioned in claim 1, wherein the air conditioner for the spiral dryer inserted in the upper part thereof and is removed from the bottom thereof.

8. The process, as mentioned in claim 6, wherein the air for the spiral dryer is introduced into the upper part thereof and is removed from the bottom thereof.

9. The process, as mentioned in claim 1, wherein the dried peperoni is cooled after coming out of a spiral dryer.

10. The process, as mentioned in claim 1, wherein the dried peperoni is frozen and then conveyed to a spiral dryer.

11. The process, as mentioned in claim 1, wherein the peperoni cut into cubes passes through the spiral drying in less than 1 ^ hours.

12. The process, as mentioned in claim 1 wherein the cooked sausage is sliced to a thickness of 5/16"(0.8 cm) or less

13. The process, as mentioned in claim 1, wherein the The spiral dryer has a plurality of conveyor hillers arranged around a vertical axis, and where the air conditioner passes down around the axis and then passes radially outwardly through the sausage cut into cubes when transported along the rows.

14. A process for the preparation of peperoni cut cubes by mixing an appropriate mixture of meat for preparation of pepperoni with water, salt, culture and seasoning and other ingredients used to prepare Pepperoni extruding the combined mixture in leaves, fermenting cooking the sausage resulting from the step of extrusió continuation the drying of the sausage, the dry steps include: to cool the cooked sausage to less than 0 ° F 17 ° C), to slice the cold sausage or, after cutting the cold sausage cubed to a size of approximately 5/16"(0. cm), placing the sausage cut into cubes on a mobile conveyor belt of a spiral dryer and drying sausages up to a moisture to protein ratio of 1.6 or less in less than 1 H hour, passing air conditioning over the sausage in the spiral dryer, being, the ai introduced in the dryer with a relative humidity of 30% less and at a temperature in the range of approximately 50 (10 ° C) to 120 ° F (49 ° C).

15. The process, as mentioned in claim 1, wherein the air flow over the sausage in the spiral drying is within the range of about 3-15 pi per second (90 cm-4.5 cm).

16. A system for preparing dry pepperoni comprising: an extruder for extruding a mixture of meat mixed in sieves for fermentation and cooking; a cooler to cool the cooked peperoni sausage; slicers for the cooled peperoni; cutters in cubes to cut into cubes the frozen pepero chilled, sliced; a spiral dryer having a conveyor belt passing therethrough in a plurality of rows arranged in a spiral; an air conditioner coupled to the spiral dryer for introducing air conditioning having a relative humidity of less than about 30% and at a temperature in the range of about 65-90 ° F (18 ° 32 ° C).

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the air conditioner system includes cooling coils to reduce the humidity of the air passing through the coils and heating coils to raise the temperature of the air passing therethrough.

18. The system of claim 16 further includes a cooler for reducing the temperature of dried peperoni cut into cubes, after it leaves the spiral dryer.

19. A system for preparing dry peperoni comprising:. An extruder for extruding a mixture of meat mixed into sieves for fermentation and cooking; a cooler to cool cooked peperoni sausage; slicers to slice the chilled peperoni; a spiral dryer having a conveyor belt passing therethrough in a plurality of rows arranged in a spiral; an air conditioner coupled to the spiral dryer for introducing air conditioning having a relative humidity of less than about 30% and at a temperature in the range of about 50 ° F to 120 ° (10 ° C-49 ° C). The system of claim 19, wherein the air conditioning system includes cooling coils to reduce the humidity of the air passing through the coils and heating coils to raise the temperature of the air passing through it.