Extruded dry and semi-dry sausage product processing and to products thereform

A process for rapidly producing dry or semi-dry sausage product comprising the steps of

• i) admixing an amount of ground meat with at least an amount of an edible acidulant to form a sausage admixture,
• ii) extruding the sausage admixture into at least one shaped sausage product;
• iii) drying the shaped sausage product to achieve a desired water to protein ratio;
• and
• wherein during the extrusion step the sausage admixture is simultaneously formed and cooked into the shaped sausage product.