Ethnic meat products of the North African and Mediterranean countries: An overview

Traditional meat products constitute one of the ancient cultural heritage of the North- and Mediterranean countries: Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Over, peoples of these countries consumed numerous meat products in such a way that and microbial action can take place to help increase the shelf life but also to the flavor and nutritional quality of the products. These ethnic meat products are using different animal sources, but all verified to be halal, and consumed during events, family celebrations or religious feasts. In this systematic review, 32 most known meat products Melfouf, Merguez, Kofta, Guedid, Cured Guedid, El messli, , Tidkit, Soudjouk/Sucuk/Nakanek, Boubnita, Pastirma, Fregate, /Mandi/Bourdim, Tafra-gara, Maynama, Khliaa Ezir, Laknaf, Osbana, Bnadek, , Kobiba, Mcharmla, Boubnita/Member, Mkila, Tehal/Tehane, Ban-Chems, /Zelif, Klaya, Douara/Bekbouka/T’qalia, Tangia, Mrouzia and Cachir from the 5 were documented. The main objectives of this overview were to report the knowledge that covers the origin, preparation, characteristics, and consumption of the 32 North-African traditional meat products. Moreover, the listed meat products grouped into 5 categories using both traditional and scientific knowledge related to their. The identified categories are i) salted and/or marinated meat products but not (category I) ; ii) dried not fermented meat products (category II) ; iii) fermented semidry/ meat products (category III) ; iv) smoked meat products (category IV) and v) cooked/or candied meat products (category V). The common eating practices of these products the related historical and socio-cultural aspects were discussed.