The food industry is making great efforts to improve hygiene, extend the shelf life of products, prevent food-borne illnesses and contamination by chemical and also physical agents, and to improve their detection and control if contamination already has occurred. As a result, there is a constant search for new technologies which can help in achieving these goals. Nanotechnology is one of the major innovations which have already been applied in many different areas. Results of previous studies show that the use of nanotechnology provides a number of opportunities to improve processes of production, packaging, distribution and storage of the food, and therefore of the meat, as one of the most valuable source of nutritional components.

Although food industry has improved production techniques and slaughter hygiene, pathogens found in meat, such as Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp. and E. coli still cause a number of foodborne illness outbreaks yearly all over the world. The overuse of antibiotics and disinfectants in both veterinary and human medicine practice has led to phenomenon of multi-drugresistance of bacteria, which highlights the research needs on new antimicrobial agents. One of the alternatives is use of essential oils, which are aromatic oily liquids obtained from plant material by different methods. It has been proved that essential oils exhibit variable antibacterial activity, depending on the type of bacteria as well as on the chemical composition of essential oil being used. Essential oils (Eos) have antioxidant role, and inhibitory role not only to pathogens, but also to the spoilage microorganisms, which subsequently affects quality and extends meat shelf-life in order to produce safer and healthier product.

Bioactive peptides are functional components, encrypted in the proteins and can be derived from food of plant and animal origin, including meat. After releasing during gastrointestinal digestion or food processing, these peptides exhibit many different effects on human body such as antioxidative, antimicrobial, antihypertensive, antithrombotic, cytomodulatory, immunomodulatory, anticancer, hypocholesterolemic and anti-obesity effects, which mainly depends on their structure and other properties. Considering bioactive activities of these peptides and their beneficial influence on health on one side, and millions of deaths caused by cancer, cardiovascular and other diseases associated with lifestyle on the other side, it is obvious that these peptides can be used for health promotion and disease risk reduction, especially because they have some advantages compared to synthetic drugs.

The quality of the Serbian dry fermented sausage, Sremska, was evaluated without added nitrite and pasteurized post-ripening. As an extra safety measure to eliminate Salmonella, mild heat treatments (47 °C/6.5 h or 53 °C/22.1 min) were used. The effect of starter culture on product quality was also examined. Sausages were tested at the start of production and after 30 days of storage, measuring physicochemical properties, microbiota populations, biogenic amines, lipid oxidation, and sensory qualities. The absence of nitrite did not cause significant changes in microbiota. Pasteurization lowered total viable counts and lactic acid bacteria by up to 3.5 log CFU/g, especially in sausages with starter culture. Enterobacteriaceae were fully eliminated only in pasteurized products. Pathogens like Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus were not detected. Moderate biogenic amine levels were found in all samples (189.4–312.2 mg/kg), with higher amounts in sausages without nitrite. Neither starter culture nor pasteurization significantly affected biogenic amine levels, although pasteurization helped limit their buildup during storage. Lipid oxidation remained low (0.14–0.25 mg/kg), with slightly higher levels in sausages with starter culture; no changes due to pasteurization or nitrite absence were observed. Sensory evaluation showed all sausages received high scores. Texture, juiciness, aroma, and flavor of sausages made with starter culture were unaffected by nitrite absence or pasteurization. Sausages without starter culture scored slightly lower without nitrite compared to those with it. Pasteurization improved texture, juiciness, aroma plus flavor, and overall acceptability of all sausages without starter culture. Overall, the study concluded that nitrite-free Sremska sausages, when pasteurized with a mild heat process, maintained good quality and enhanced safety.