Thesis (MscAgric (Animal Sciences))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / The aim of this study was to develop a product using alternative red meat species, aquatic and terrestrial mammals, which would be acceptable to the consumer and suitable from a food safety aspect. Many of these alternative species are harvested seasonally. A product which is shelf stable needs to be developed to provide a supply of this meat all year round. The species used in this investigation were the Cape fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus), the Grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) from the northern hemisphere, the Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), horse, beef, mutton, blesbok (Damaliscus dorcas phillipsi) and springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis). Muscle (m. pectoralis) of Cape fur seal pups has a higher percentage fat (4.2g/100g) than the bulls (2.4g/100g), but similar levels of protein (23.2g/100g). Bull blubber samples have a higher percentage protein (26.6g/100g) than the pups (14.6g/100g), but a lower fat percentage (67.1g/100 g) compared with the pups (77.2g/100g). In the Cape fur seal bull meat, saturated fatty acids (SFA) contribute 33mg/100g, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) 29mg/100 g and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) 38mg/100g of the total fatty acid content. In pups, the three fractions are 39, 30 and 31 mg/100g for SFA, MUFA and PUFA, respectively. Salami,prepared using exclusively seal meat, or seal meat with beef and pork, was produced in a pilot study, using two commercially available starter cultures. The pH values of all three batches started off at ca. 5.6, and dropped to 4.3. Water activity readings started off at 0.96 and dropped to 0.91 after 21 days. Salami produced from the meat of the Grey (Havert) seal and Minke whale, using three starter cultures, had recorded pH values (in both species), which started off between 5.68 and 5.92, and dropped to between 4.5 and 4.8 over the 21 days. Water activity showed an initial value of 0.96, which dropped to 0.90 after 21 days. The final force (N/cm2) that was needed to compress the salami samples was double that of the initial force required for the same species and starter culture combination. The raw seal meat contained 349.6 (mg/100 g sample) SFA, 271.6 (mg/100g sample) MUFA and 175.8 (mg/100g sample) PUFA, whilst the raw whale meat contained 312.3, 251.9 and 179.6 (mg/100g sample) SFA, MUFA and PUFA respectively. Fifteen batches of salami were made from horse, beef, mutton, blesbok and springbok, respectively, and starter cultures of Lactobacillus curvatus DF 38 (batch I), active bacteriocin producing Lactobacillus plantarum 423 (batch II) and then a mutant variation of Lactobacillus plantarum 423m, which did not produce the bacteriocin (batch III). Batch I had a higher final pH value (4.66), after 23 days, whereas the values for batches II and III were similar (4.42 and 4.46 respectively). On day 23 the water activity value was 0.90 for all starter cultures. Horse salami, in batch I, was the leanest in terms of fat content (34.34g/100g salami), with mutton salami having the highest fat content (37.52g/100g salami). Blesbok salami had the highest fat content in batch II (42.77g/100g meat), with beef the leanest (35.71g/100g meat). Salami made from horse and springbok proved to be the most desirable in terms of chemical composition, especially fatty acid profiles, with regard to P: S and n-6: n-3 ratios. Similar growth patterns in colony forming units (cfu) were recorded for L. plantarum 423, L. plantarum 423m and L. curvatus DF38 in MRS broth (Merck) at 30oC, although batch I reached asymptotic growth earlier. The percentage of L. plantarum 423 compared with the total population of microflora in mutton salami remained almost the same (80-95% variety) during the entire fermentation and maturation process. In horse salami, L. plantarum 423 was present at relatively low cell numbers (55-50% on day 1 and before smoking), but increased to 70% after smoking and stabilized to 70-80% for the remaining fermentation period. In beef salami, cell numbers in batch II decreased slightly during the first five days (from 95 to 70%), followed by an increase to 90%. In springbok salami, cell numbers in batch II remained fairly stable at 80-90%. In blesbok salami, batch II slowly decreased during the first three days, from 88% to 70%, then increased to 92% after 12 days and stabilized for the rest of the fermentation period. Similar results were recorded for batch I. Analytical sensory evaluation concluded that the salami prepared using starter culture I resulted in end products with lower sensory qualities. Salami prepared using blesbok and mutton also resulted in end products with lower sensory qualities and was perceived as significantly lower in salami flavour (P≤0.05) and higher in venison-like and mutton-like flavour respectively. The blesbok samples were rated significantly higher (P≤0.05) in sour meat aroma, sour meat flavour and venison-like flavour than the rest of the samples. The blesbok salami was rated significantly lowest for colour compared with the rest of the samples. The tastes of the springbok and horse salami were significantly (P≤0.05) more acceptable than those of the beef and blesbok salami.