3.4. Functional starter cultures in fermented non-dairy products 3.4.1. Fermented meat and meat products The preservation of meat and meat products by fermentation has been used from ancient times and it was based mainly on natural meat microorganisms. Recently, researchers begun to develop starter cultures for meat products, in order to ensure standard quality for the fermentation process [87]. In 1995 the first LAB meat starter culture used by Niven et al. [96] in the USA was a pure culture of Pediococcus cerevisiae. Essential requirements of meat LAB starter cultures are the immediate and rapid production of organic acids at the start of the fermentation, which will result in a pH below 5.1 [97]. Therefore, the original characteristics of the foods are changed, resulting in enhancement of the final products [98].