Microbial communities of fermented foods have provided a tool for humans to preserve and develop flavor for long history. And they can also provide opportunities to study microbial community formation because of their reproducible and easy-to-manipulate feature. Dry-cured ham is one of the traditional fermented products. Some of the compounds produced during the hydrolysis and oxidation of proteins and fats in ham processing form a distinctive flavor of ham. Many microbes are involved in this process and biochemical reactions. In this review, we describe the ham microbial communities in different regions and their role in the formation of ham quality, and prospect the future research of ham microbiology.
数千年来，微生物参与的食品发酵为人类保存食物和风味多元化提供了重要的方法。这些可再生且易于操作的发酵食品为研究微生物群落提供了理想的材料。干腌火腿就是传统发酵食品之一，在微生物作用下其加工过程发生了蛋白质和脂肪的水解和氧化反应，产生的一些化合物形成了火腿的独特风味。文中描述了不同地域火腿微生物类群及其对火腿品质形成的作用，为火腿微生物今后的研究提出了参考。.
Keywords: fermented food; ham; microbial communities.