Commercial cultures used in Canada for the manufacture of Italian dry sausage were examined to determine their microbial composition and suitability for low temperature (less than or equal to 20 degrees C) meat fermentations. Temperature optima in both laboratory media and commercial meat mixtures were generally too high to allow these cultures to be of substantial advantage in this application. In addition, media used currently for the enumeration of streptococci and related organisms from fermented meat products were found to be inadequately specific and often required confirmatory inspection of colonies by conventional phase contrast microscopy. Streptococci were isolated from Italian dry sausage manufactured commercially with and without added starter cultures. Streptococci persisted in sausages produced by both techniques with slightly higher numbers present in starter-acidulated sausages. About 55.5% of the 312 streptococci studied were enterococci (Lancefield's Group D). Streptococci were found in several samples of commercial starter cultures but it was felt that elevated ripening temperatures used for sausage manufactured by the starter-mediated process and meat handling practices were more important factors influencing streptococci recovery from sausage material.