In relation to the typical microbiota (Fig. 3), LAB counts followed the usual pattern of dry fermented sausages, with a rapid increase to 8–9 log cfu/g during fermentation, followed by stabilization along ripening and storage. No differences (P N 0.05) were observed among batches. Although, GCC+ showed in all batches the typical behavior reported for these products, a significant effect of nitrate/nitrite concentration (P b 0.05) was observed, with counts ranging from 4 to 6.5 log cfu/g at the end of ripening. Thus, batch C showed approximately 1 log cfu/g higher numbers of this microbial group than LN sausages, and around 2 log cfu/g than MN and HN. The differences were slightly reduced after 30 days of cold storage