Changes in specific activity of cathepsins and trypsin-like tissue peptidase were analysed during the production and 40-day storage of cervelat-type fermented sausage manufactured from hot meat. The specific activity of cathepsins in such a sausage is on the average 30% higher than in similar
sausages produced from meat refrigerated for 7 days. The specific activity of the other peptidase does not differ depending on the degree of autolysis of the meat raw materiał. The direction of specific activity changes of the two enzymes in both kinds of the studied sausage is the same, corresponding also to changes in other experimental cycles. The activity of the enzymes is stimulated by the increasing content of common salt, or rather of its natural admixtures. The increasing concentration of salts is due to the decreasing water content in the stored sausages.
Two complexes of tissue peptidase hydrolases are active in fermented sausage, namely cathepsins and trypsin-like peptidase. Smoking and prolonged storage increases their specific activity, the effect being due to smoking temperature and, during storage, the concentration of hydrogen ions and
water content. The latter two factors activate mainly trypsin-like peptidase.