The protease activities were in the following order: fermented jerky (the viable count of Lacrobacillus bulgaricus is 1.05 _ 107 CFU/g) > remaining fermented medium (the viable count is 9.1 _ 107 CFU/g) > fermented medium without meat (the viable count is 6.2 _ 106 CFU/mL) > medium before fermentation (inoculation medium, the viable count is 0).